Reversing Time
by havanatitiana
Summary: The shinobi nations had been burnt down to the ground by the Ten Tails, but Sakura had been given a chance to change everything. To make everything right. However, and as years passed by, things would turn out to be so much more difficult than she'd ever imagined. Not your regular Time travel. Sasusaku. MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH
1. Back from Hell

**A/N: I want to say that this time travel fic will move** _ **far**_ **away from the original plot. It will become a complicated plot and it will include some interesting subjects that are not much developed in canon. However, it will only start doing so from the chuunin exams on. So bear with me for a while. I hope that you all enjoy!**

 **Naruto doesn't belong to me. Neither do any of its characters.**

 **CHAPTER 1**

 _Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank._

A cloaked figure was running through a burnt down forest. Ninja sandals were making an unusual noise on the charcoal ground, the expected softness of the leaf covered soil replaced by the hardness of an ash covered compact ground. The huge forest had been completely burnt to the ground, but it had probably been long ago, since the characteristic odor of burnt wood was completely gone by now. The landscape, now clear of tree foliage, was completely revealed and it was depressing; there was nothing else but burnt wood and ash. Not a single movement could be seen as far as the distant mountains ahead. The ecosystem and its fauna had been completely wiped out; everything was dead.

The figure was panting heavily, and its body seemed to be at its limits; legs shaking and occasionally stumbling because of the uneven terrain. Turning its head a couple times as it ran, the figure finally changed course clumsily and headed towards a rock formation not far from where it stood. Upon arriving, the person stopped running and sighed in relief at the sight of a deep cave. The figure, now walking at a slow pace, entered the cave and put its hood down, revealing a young woman. The faint light entering thought the narrow opening of the cave reflected on the rare pink hair that reached a bit past her shoulders and her emerald eyes. Her face's complexion was disheartening; her skin was too pale, her face was too scrawny and under her eyes were dark bags.

The woman crouched just by the opening of the cave and took an oil lantern out of a bag that had been hidden by her cloak. After lighting it, the woman took off once again into the rocky formation. After a couple of minutes of walking away from the entrance, when the sunlight no longer could be even seen from the distance, she jolted in surprise and hurried towards a stalactite. There was water dripping from it onto the floor, and the woman crouched under it. She parted her cracked lips and closed her eyes as her mouth was filled with the life-giving liquid. When she had enough, she took a canteen out of her bag and put it under the dripping water. She sat down as it filled up and rested her head and back on the rocky wall behind her. When the bottle was filled, she put it away and closed her eyes. Her body was shaking from exhaustion and her mind was numb from the constant stress and angst that her life was now. Her previously strong limbs and muscles had become skinny - _too_ skinny – and were barely able to help her stand up. She had already become used to the now constant pain in her empty belly and the last time she had seen anything edible was a week ago, when she had killed the damned rabbit and eaten it with tears in her eyes. The last time that she had seen _anybody_ was _months_ ago. She seriously doubted that there were any living human souls anywhere in the ninja nations.

After relishing in the comforting feeling of water going down her throat she let out a shaky breath and felt the adrenaline in her blood go down. Knowing that she would pass out soon, she moved her hand to turn the lantern off. Her tired body relaxed against the rocky wall behind her and she felt her eyelids close.

 _She was crying her eyes out. Her throat was raspy due to inhaling too much smoke and she could barely speak. The ten tails had gone out of control a couple days ago, and almost every shinobi had died trying to fight it. It was fruitless, since humans weren't supposed to try to control such a power. It had been the obvious result._

 _Not only had everything gone to hell, but in her arms was her most treasured friend and teammate; Naruto. His blue eyes, previously filled with energy and joy, were now dull. Dead. His body was unnervingly cold and stiff. The pool of his own blood on which she had found him was cold too. Her hands and forearms were drenched in it, the feeling making her feel nauseous. She had been too late; he had been long gone when she had reached him. The feeling of guilt and uselessness was filling her. He had given everything and she hadn't been able to do anything to help him, or anybody. Her attempts had been in vain, as well as everybody else's. Now death was all she came across._

" _Naruto…" she sobbed and her hand cupped his cheek softly. "I'm sorry. I'm going to miss you so much."_

 _After grieving for half a minute, she decided that she couldn't waste more time, and walked a couple steps away from his corpse. She punched the ground, which cracked under her fist, and she went back to her blond friend. She picked him up and laid him in the hole she had created, kissing his forehead before covering him with dirt. When she was done, she placed a big rock next to his makeshift grave, so that people would now where he was resting. She gave one more look towards the spot where she had buried him and walked away._

 _Suddenly, everything was black around her; void and black. She wondered if she was in some sort of genjutsu and wondered_ who _could be casting it upon her. She was_ glad _that there was someone alive. Not long after, all the darkness around her dissipated and she found herself in a different landscape. She was no longer in a valley, but walking up on a mountain. She was wondering why she had appeared there when her eyes came upon another terrible view; as heartbreaking as the last one. In front of her, missing both arms and a leg, was an ebony haired young man dressed in a white robe. It was Sasuke._

 _She was next to him in the blink of an eye and crouched to take a better look. She gasped when she saw that his eyes were open and he was looking into her own emerald ones. She quickly assessed the damage to his body and decided that, even though he had clearly lost too much blood, there was still a slim chance that he could be saved. She moved her hand to start healing him, but she was stopped._

" _Don't." He rasped out._

" _Sasuke…" she frowned. "You could still live."_

" _Look around, Sakura. If I manage to live though this, I will be dead soon anyways." He stated with great effort._

 _Sakura didn't want to admit it, but that was true. He was missing his two arms and a leg; even if she managed to stop the blood loss, he would probably die from an infection, since there was no way to find antibiotics now. If he did, he wouldn't be able to move again, he would be a cripple and he would not make it like that. Every village and town was being destroyed by the ten-tails now, and there was no way to stop it._

" _I'm sorry." His voice brought her out of her musings and she widened her eyes at his words. "I could've prevented this… if only I had made different choices."_

" _Sasuke." Sakura's eyes softened, she didn't even notice how she had dropped the 'kun' after so much destruction. "You didn't know what was going to happen… and you did what you could. It's true that you could've made different choices… but I understand that you didn't because of the burden you carry."_

" _Everyone will die now. Every living person." Sasuke said with sorrow in his eyes. "I'm guilty."_

" _I don't think you are." Sakura said and softly embraced him, resting her head on his shoulder. "And if you were, I'd forgive you."_

 _As she had her arms around him, she felt him chuckle softly and then exhale deeply. She moved back and stared at his face. His eyes weren't blinking anymore and he had stopped breathing altogether. He had died filled with guilt and regret. And that fact broke her heart more than anything else ever had._

Sakura woke abruptly to find that she was surrounded by pitch black darkness and that she was lying on top of a rocky ground; she was still inside that cave. She was already used to having nightmares about her memories. She would always dream about the ten-tails going out of control, about Sasuke leaving, about Naruto dying. It had all happened almost a whole year ago, but it still kept her on edge all day long and she couldn't rest at night. Sakura reached for the oil lamp and turned it one once again, the small flames lighting up the spot she was sitting on. She took out her canteen to take a long gulp of water and then moved it under the dripping stalactite to fill it up once again. As she was closing it up Sakura heard a noise and stopped the movements immediately. Not only was it completely unusual to hear noises nowadays, but also it sounded like a cough. A _human_ cough, maybe?

Her heart started pumping in her chest as she took hold of her lantern and the rest of her stuff. She stood up and sprinted towards the noise, which had come from a little further into the cavern. Not thirty seconds later, she stopped a couple meters away from a human figure against the wall. She tentatively walked towards it, hoping with all of her might that it wouldn't be another dead body. When she was right next to it she knew; it was alive, but barely though. She could feel the flow of chakra within that body and could tell by the slight heat that radiated off of it. The person had their head hung low and their face was covered in shadows. As soon as Sakura stopped right next to it, a low chuckle was heard and its head looked up as the light of her lantern reached its features.

"It must be some sort of miracle, meeting you here." Obito said with a weak voice. His body was in a terrible state, much worse than Sakura's, and the only thing that made him clearly recognizable was his mismatched eyes.

"Obito!" Sakura's eyes widened at the sight. "You are alive."

"I would've died too, if it weren't for the ten-tails attacking and giving me an opening to escape." He stated and then his eyes looked down, in clear shame of his previous actions. "I fucked up."

Sakura said nothing to that… what could she say? You are not guilty? It doesn't matter, no big deal? We can still make things right? Even though he did realize his actions were mistaken, he really had fucked up pretty badly. There was nothing that she could say to help him feel better except…

"I'm sorry things turned out this way." She murmured. "We have to try our best to survive now. Do you need me to heal you?"

"No." he shook his head and he smiled slightly. "Sakura, I did mention to you that it was a miracle meeting you here." Sakura nodded. "That's not only because I thought I would never see anybody ever again. It's also because I have been looking for you."

"You have?"

"Yes. This past year I have been trying to atone for my mistakes and find a way to make things right. Of course there's no way to stop the ten-tailed beast… we already know that. So I decided to work on a different way to make things right. I developed a jutsu that would allow everything to be undone by going back in time."

"Time-traveling? Is that even possible?" her eye widened at that.

"Together with the sharingan and the rinnegan I believe I have developed a way." He nodded at her question.

"That's hard to believe… have you tried it yet?" Sakura frowned a bit.

"No, so the jutsu is actually only a _theory_ with no proof yet. I can't be the one to travel back in time, because there is a problem with the jutsu… it'll be incredibly destructive on the body. Whoever goes back in time would surely die in the process."

"That's why you were looking for me." Sakura assumed. "You wanted to use my ability to heal myself automatically and send me back in time."

"Yes." Obito nodded again and looked down at his hands. "I'm really not sure if it will work and maybe your ability will not be enough to withstand it. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but you're the only one left with that ability. You know… since Tsunade-"

"I know." Sakura interrupted him softly and locked eyes with him, determination shining in them. "I will do it. I'm pretty much dead anyways. I'm all alone, starving and thirsty most of the time. There's nothing left for humanity in this world… there's nothing left for any form of life anymore."

"Are you sure?" Obito asked. "Maybe this timeline will cease to exist once you travel back in time and will never be able to come back. Also, I don't know what will happen with the Sakura of that timeline… maybe she will disappear. Maybe you will take her place."

"I don't care about any of the consequences." She put her hands on her hips. "We need to do something about _this_ even if it means death, because there's nothing left for us. Don't you see?" when she finished her sentence, Obito nodded quietly and Sakura's eyes softened. "Are you even capable of performing the jutsu? Aren't you out of chakra?"

"I have around half my reserves… I believe it should be enough to send you back around 6 years into the past." He said. "Do you have enough chakra to use the Creation Rebirth Technique?"

"I do." Sakura nodded. For the last year she had barely used any chakra, since she had been mainly running away and trying to find food, as had the few ninjas and people she had encountered. Therefore, she had managed to restore her reserves to the point they were before the war started.

Sakura moved to sit in front of Obito and stared at him in the eyes for a couple moments. She was silent for a minute or two as she thought, taking into account all the information she had learned about the war and the ten-tailed beast.

"I don't think anyone in the past it strong enough to take you on... not with the Akatsuki on your side. Naruto and Sasuke only become strong enough when all hell has already broken loose." She murmured. "The only way I can think of stopping it all from happening again is finding you in the past… and somehow convince you to stop." She finished her sentence and winced at how impossible it sounded.

"There's only one way to convince me to stop." Obito said and looked up at Sakura. "You need to show him my own memories. I can show them to you and you'll have to find a way of showing them to him."

"Do it." Sakura nodded and looked into Obito's sharingan. She took a deep breath in and allowed herself to be pulled into his Genjutsu.

Obito's feelings for Rin, his quest to control the tails, his personal struggles and his final change of heart. All of those memories were squeezed into Sakura's mind at full speed and made her head throb and ache. When she opened her eyes again, she was dizzy and disoriented.

"Gimme a minute." She mumbled as she gasped for air. When she was feeling slightly better she looked back at Obito with a renewed sense of understanding. She wanted to say that she was sorry for what he had been through, but it was no use now. "All right. If that doesn't do the trick nothing will."

"We should do this now, Sakura. I don't think my body will last much longer." He stated and pointed to the center of the narrow cave. "Sit there and take your cloak off."

Sakura nodded and did as he asked, sitting down with only a thin shirt and black shorts. He shakily walked towards her and it was only then that Sakura realized how weak his body truly was. He was severely malnourished and she could tell that his inner organs would fail anytime now. Sakura had to blink back the tears that threatened to build in her eyes. She stayed still as he bit his thumb and started drawing markings on the ground around her and on her whole body. The symbols and lines were so complex that he took over an hour to finally finish them all. She was covered in markings on her arms, legs, back, stomach, neck and face. She looked at him and noticed that he looked even paler than before – bordering a greenish color. She threw him an apologetic glance, thinking of the amount of blood that he had lost on that.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Not for long." he answered and sat down in front of her. "Use your Creation Rebirth Technique now."

Sakura closed her eyes and released her technique, her seal stretching and imprinting black lines down her face, neck and torso. When she opened her eyes she looked at Obito in the eye, knowing that it would be the last time that she would ever be alive in this timeline. Maybe it would even be the last couple seconds that she lived at all.

"So this is it." She said.

Obito was about to say something, when they felt a presence nearing the cave. It was not just any presence; it was that _snake_. No, it was _not_ Orochimaru. It was Kabuto, which was a thousand times worse. Sakura didn't care if he had supposedly joined the fight against the ten-tails in the end. She _didn't_ trust him at all and he, being here, was a bad omen.

"Do it now!" she hissed in a low voice.

Obito didn't waste any more time and started doing the seals at an incredible speed. Sakura was impressed at the fact that he managed to pull off such speed with the condition of his current body. Fifteen seconds later he had finished over two hundred hand signs and he looked up at her. When he did, the circles on his rinnegan shrank into a regular looking eye.

"Time Reversal no Jutsu!"

As soon as his hand slammed down on a specific seal on the ground, Sakura world was turned upside down. Everything became a sea of colors, like a madman's dream. No forms could be distinguished and there was no clear up and down. Her body started aching so much that she thought she would die; stabbing pain filled her body in and out. Her cells started vibrating because of the rapid rate that her body needed to heal. Her mind was dizzy and dull because of the unbearable agony that she was in. She closed her eyes and tried to scream to release some of it, but her body was completely numb. She felt her chakra draining at such a fast rate that she wondered if she would make it. Would she die? Would everything be in vain? Her thoughts trailed off as she blacked out.

Light filtered through her closed eyes and she had to move a hand to cover her eyelids. Sakura's body had never felt so sore and she had never felt so _drained_. There was a faint throbbing in her head, meaning that she had recently had a terrible headache. She couldn't remember a thing. What had happened? Was she attacked? What about the Juubi? Was it still alive? She tried hard to remember what had happened before she blacked out and suddenly Obito's face came to her mind. Obito. The time travel jutsu. Everything came rushing back to her and she forced her eyes open.

Sakura looked around for a couple seconds and found that she was in a middle sized room. The walls were white and there was a small desk opposite to the bed. It was her room: her _old_ room, in her parents' house. Despite her nausea, she forced her body to stand up and walked slowly to the mirror on the back of the door to take a look at herself. Round face, wide forehead, long pink hair, small stature, pre-teen body, weak muscles. Somehow she hadn't gone back in time with her adult body and, instead, had taken the place of her previous self.

She had successfully gone back to a time before everything went to hell. To a time where she could set things right and prevent the upcoming extinction of humanity. She was the only one that knew how to stop it.

However, this body of hers was _fucking_ _weak_.

 **A/N: Ah…. There goes the first chapter. Please tell me what you think about it!**


	2. Home

**CHAPTER 2**

Sakura threw herself on her bed heavily and looked up at the ceiling. Her body was 12 years old and it was as weak as it had always been. However, she could feel that her chakra had stayed the same. Either her forehead seal had carried her original chakra with her o her soul had managed to transfer her vital energy back in time with her. Nonetheless, she was grateful for that; her body might be weak, but her chakra reserves were jonin level and her chakra control was sannin level. Sadly, the chakra she had been storing into her seal had been almost completely drained by the time travel, so she decided to immediately start storing it once again. She did a couple hand seals, deciding that she would store 90% percent of her chakra in her seal every day. It didn't matter if she was left with little chakra, since she was supposed to be a genin and probably wouldn't be sent on any difficult mission for a while.

Sakura looked out the window and noticed that it was already past dusk. She wondered what exact date it was and walked to look out the window. Konoha was exactly as she remembered it from before the utter destruction that came with Pain's – or Nagato's - attack. From her bedroom window she could clearly see the numerous dwellings all around her, the morning sun shining brightly on the metallic roofs. Sakura was immersed in her nostalgic thoughts until she heard a knock on her door. She turned around and felt joy build in her chest; her parents were still alive. Despite her immense nervousness, Sakura managed to speak up.

"Come in."

"Hey." Mebuki smiled as she peeked through the door, but soon her smile was replaced by a frown. "Are you all right? You seem awfully pale."

"I… didn't sleep well last night." Sakura inwardly smiled at her mother's worry. "My stomach hurt for hours and I couldn't sleep. I'm beat."

"Would you like to stay in bed for a couple more hours? You can skip a day of class if you aren't feeling well." Mebuki offered, knowing that her daughter would never miss out on an academy day because of laziness.

"That's… actually a good idea. I'll sleep for a couple more hours and head to the academy later." Sakura smiled.

"All right. Sleep tight." Mebuki smiled softly at Sakura.

"Thanks." The pink haired girl smiled back.

When her mother left, Sakura plopped herself on top of her bed and took a deep breath. She could still feel the exhaustion and numbness from the constant stress in her previous timeline. To help herself relax, she took a couple deep breaths and, only second later, she was already in deep slumber.

When Sakura woke up once again it was already 10 am, which meant that she had slept for almost 4 hours. When she sat down, she stretched her arms and her back, deciding that she was feeling much better. She was most definitely not at her hundred percent, but she was feeling good enough to go to the Academy. Sakura quickly stood up and grabbed a towel out of her closet, storming into the bathroom a second later. As she showered, she felt the excruciating need to stay under the hot water for a long time. It had been over a year since she had last _showered_ , so she granted herself 5 extra minutes of bliss under the stream. When she was done washing her hair and cleaning up, she dried herself and walked to her bedroom. She opened her drawers trying to find something to wear that was fit for battle, but found nothing and sighed. In the end, she put on her usual red quipao and tied her pink her in a high ponytail.

When she walked down to the kitchen, the smell of scrambled eggs washed over her. It had been so long since she had eaten properly. She ran to the counter and gulped down the delicious food in a matter of seconds. She relished on the soft texture of the eggs and then ate some grapes that her mother had left for her. She had to admit that it was nice to be taken care of once again. It was nice to have _food_ that she could eat every day. She would never take food, shelter and peace for granted. Not ever again.

After brushing her teeth, Sakura left her house and walked towards the center of the village. The streets were filled with familiar faces and she couldn't help but feel like she was in some sort of dream. She looked at the different shops, remembering the times that she spent there with her friends. She would always keep Ino company while she bought clothes… it had been _horribly_ long hours for her at the time, but now she would give anything to spend time together with her friend again. She passed by Ichiraku's and remembered how, in the end, she had accepted that if she wanted to eat out with Naruto, most of the time it would have to be ramen. Sakura felt a smile tug at her lips at the memory of how _noisy_ he had used to be when he eating noodles.

Sakura stopped in front of a crossroad, one path leading towards the academy and the other towards the Hokage tower. She had initially decided to head straight to the Hokage and tell him everything straight away. But now that she thought about it, if she did that she probably wouldn't get a day off in a long time. Maybe she could go to the academy for today and go to the Hokage afterwards. She missed everyone too much and would be damned if she had to wait weeks to see them again.

So, Sakura turned left and soon reached the familiar white building with wooden roof-tiles. She smiled at the swing where she would sometimes hang out after class. It was such a nostalgic view, especially since the building had been destroyed when Pain attacked. She walked into the building and headed towards her class. The clock on the hallway read 10:45, which meant that the next lesson was about to begin. Sakura stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath in and walked through it.

When she stepped into the classroom she was met with a familiar sight. Everyone was scattered around in groups and talking about light subjects, sometimes a loud laugh or slight bickering could be heard. After roaming around for a bit, Sakura's eyes landed on a lone blond boy on one side of the room; Naruto. In this timeline, he was still alive and still innocent to the harsh reality of the shinobi way of life. Sakura smiled and her face softened. He hadn't had any friends before graduation and had been casted aside by the whole village up to that point. He didn't deserve any of that and, therefore, Sakura decided that she would be friends with him from now on. She walked up to him and leaned to look at him over his shoulder.

"Hey, Naruto." She almost chuckled when she saw the dumbstruck expression on his face; he was clearly surprised. "Can I sit with you?"

"Really? You meant that?" His eyebrows shot up in expectation.

"Well, yeah." She silently chuckled at his disbelief. It was not unexpected though, she been cruel to him back at this time. When he nodded, she sat down next to him and put her backpack next to her chair.

"You missed out on the first couple terms." Naruto tried to make a small talk sheepishly, a faint blush covering her cheeks. Sakura had forgotten that he used to have a crush on her.

"I felt a little ill last night, but I'm all good now." Sakura said and suddenly the question she had asked herself this morning popped in her head once again. "Hey, Naruto. What date is it today?"

"Huh?" Naruto scratched the back of his head in thought. "The 3rd I think."

"Err.. what month?" Sakura asked with slight embarrassment.

"Haaa? Well August, of course." He frowned at her question.

"Oh right!" Sakura managed a small smile and then her face became blank. She still had almost six months until graduation and almost a year until the chuunin exams.

Suddenly a hand was slammed on the table in front of her and Sakura looked up to see her other blond friend. Or ex-friend. "Ino."

"Well, forehead. It seems that you have finally given up and admitted my obvious superiority. I mean, look at your hair. You are even copying my hairstyle now!"

"Ehh..." Sakura sweatdropped. Did they use to bicker about such ridiculous topics back then? She wanted to say something, but didn't know what. She wanted to so bad to be on good terms with her once again.

"You just sit tight there next to that loser and I'll go back to Sasuke-kun. You better forget about him, Forehead, he will never pay any attention to the likes of you." She laughed and flipped her hair as she turned to walk away.

"Hey, who's the loser, huh?!" Naruto complained and shook an arm in objection.

However, Sakura mind was focused on only one thing. Sasuke. _**Sasuke**_. He was sitting on the other end of the classroom and surrounded by fangirls. His boyish face still held a slight annoyed expression – which was to be expected, being surrounded by at least ten screeching girls - but he certainly looked so much more innocent than he would years later. His eyes shone with a different light and he certainly wasn't threatening to kill the girls if they didn't step away. She had been so glad when she spotted Naruto that she had completely forgotten about Sasuke. He was there, sitting in the classroom, alive and he still hadn't deserted Konoha. Sakura felt a knot build in her throat and wondered if she would break down in there. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a presence behind a door at the front of the room.

"All right. Sit down everyone." Iruka called as he entered the classroom. Everyone made their way towards their seats and looked to the front.

Sakura feelings managed to get back in line, but she was not capable of fully listening to the lesson. Sasuke was here now, but he would leave. Would he? Could she prevent that? Would it all change if the Akatsuki was brought down?

If she went to the Hokage and told him that she had travelled back in time, he would certainly have Inoichi check her up. If she allowed him into her head, he would definitely find out everything about Sasuke. All of his crimes, his personal grudge against Konoha and his support to the Akatsuki and Tobi. In that case, Inoichi would not only have to inform the Hokage, but the council as well, as was the norm. If the _council_ found out about Sasuke's future actions… what would they do? Would they put him behind bars at the age of twelve? Would they exile him? Execute him? They would absolutely do something with him to prevent his crimes, as they had done with his clan. Especially since the future Sasuke had a particular grudge towards them, specifically.

What was Sakura supposed to do? Was she going to put Sasuke's life in danger to save everybody else's? Was she going to keep quiet and risk everyone's future, even though Sasuke could leave to Sound anyways? Of course her mind knew what the logical answer was; the world is bigger than Uchiha Sasuke. However, her feelings were strongly against discarding him, even if it was for a greater good.

Sakura's head was filled with her dilemma for the rest of the day. She quickly made the decision of not raising suspicions for now and, therefore, lowered her abilities to what she assumed had been her academy level. She answered questions as she would have when still a Gennin and she threw shurikens as she would have back then.

On lunch break, Sakura told Naruto – who had been tagging along with her for the whole day - that she needed some alone time and walked away with a small wave. She found a quiet spot and sat down under a tree by herself. She opened up her lunch and started eating it slowly, her mind for once clear of all those thoughts. She had just finished her food when she heard footsteps and looked up. Sasuke was right there, walking down that exact path with a nonchalant attitude. Sakura observed him as he neared her and felt her thoughts go ballistic once again. He was just so very young at this time! How was she supposed to disregard him and simply finish her self-imposed mission? She couldn't do that... much less with Sasuke; he was the love of her life. Err.. had been. Or would be. Whatever it was, the crush Sakura had felt towards him had bloomed into true love. She couldn't simply abandon his younger self when he was still so innocent. But what could she do?

Broken out of her thoughts, Sakura realized that she had been staring at Sasuke with a frown on her face and he was looking straight back at her. He had raised an eyebrow at her strange behavior as he passed by her spot, but wordlessly kept on walking past her. Sakura would've jumped in joy at twelve at the fact that he had looked her way, but she was eighteen years old now… mentally that is. She knew that it had been absolutely nothing more than an ephemeral curiosity.

Even though looking into each other's eyes did nothing to him, Sakura had felt her chest build with warmth. Looking into his eyes had reminded her of her memories of him and brought back all the feelings that came with them. She also remembered how much she had worked to help him out and try to redeem him. She felt as though she was not only given the chance to save everyone's future… but save Sasuke as well.

Suddenly the bell rang loudly and she nearly dropped her lunchbox on the grass beneath her. She quickly put it away and walked back to her classroom at a fast pace; she had always been back inside by the time the bell rang. The next class was history and Sakura tried to pay attention and participate a bit, since she always had showed special interest in this lesson.

When school was finally over, Sakura noticed that she had a couple hours to kill. She walked down to a training ground to have some alone time. In her previous life, she had always felt some sort of comfort when being alone in the wilderness. Sakura sat down and supported her back on a tree trunk and looked up to the leaves, as her whole day came back to her. The weight of what she had to do - her immense responsibility - came crashing all at once. She had a chance. A chance to do things right, not only for the whole world, but for herself too. She didn't want to regret anything that she did, any choices that she made. She was not going to save everyone and leave Sasuke to rot on his future choices regarding Itachi and Orochimaru. If she did, she would never forgive herself.

Sakura decided then; she would do her best to do both things. She would help Sasuke _and_ would find Obito on her own. If, later on, she noticed that she was not capable of that, she would go to the Hokage and ask for help. However, she would do everything in her power to accomplish by herself, even if it meant deserting the village. To do that though, she would need to push her body to its limits and get as strong as possible in the short time that she had at hand.

She decided to test out how strong - or weak - her body had become and stood up from her sitting position. Sakura gathered a small amount chakra on a finger and touched the ground in front of her, releasing it at once. The soil cracked and made a circular fissure of around two meters in diameter. She decided that this particular ability was just the same as it had been before travelling back in time and smiled. She then took out a kunai and made a shallow cut on her open palm. Her other hand was immediately on top of her cut and she channeled chakra to heal it. It immediately closed up and left no scar. Her kunai then made a deep cut on her thigh, almost to the bone, and she had to suppress a scream at the unexpected pain. Her endurance to pain was as low as it had been back when she was twelve. Her other hand moved to her thigh and she healed it in a couple seconds. Her smooth skin was as good as new, and she sighed in relief. Both her medical abilities and her chakra enhanced attacks were the same as they used to.

She needed to work on her physical abilities though, so she immediately planned a schedule. She would her overall strength, putting special emphasis on the muscles on her legs, arms and abdomen, together with her stamina. If she did go down, it would most definitely not be because of fatigue and physical weakness.

Sakura decided to use the small amount of chakra that was not being gathered into her seal to improve the rate at which her muscles and lungs became more vigorous. She estimated that if she did that, she would gain her previous strength in about two years. It was a long time, but when the time came for the chuunin exams to be held, she would be as good as when she was fifteen.

It would be enough to prevent Sasuke from getting Orochimaru's cursed seal. It _had_ to be.

\- Time skip -

Sakura had been living her old life two months now, and had rapidly gotten used to it. She had to admit though, she almost felt like a real kid again. Living in a peaceful village, the threat of war was as nonexistent as it could be for a shinobi village. Every day she sat with Naruto in class and she could've sworn that his crush on her had slightly diminished. He would no longer blush around her and he was much more carefree and whimsical. Sometimes they ate lunch together and he had told her how glad he was that she had opened up to him. Sakura was happy, she really was. He really was a great friend, even though he had forgotten how much of a clown had been at this age – which wasn't really a bad thing, since he made her laugh pretty often. Sometimes his jokes would be borderline pervert and, when he stepped over the line, she would smack him in the back of the head. He sometimes asked for her to hang out with him after class, but she had to turn him down every time, since she had become a really busy person.

Sakura would wake up every day at 5 am and train for two hours and head home. After taking a short shower, she ate breakfast and healed her throbbing muscles a bit, so that she could keep up with the Academy no problem. After class, she went back to training for around 5 or 6 hours – which was as late as her mother had allowed her out of the house. Every day when she got home, she was completely worn out, her weak body practically trembling due to exertion. If it weren't for her healing chakra, she would not be able to get up the next day and do her routine all over again.

One day, when class was over, Sakura saw Ino standing on the other side of the room to her, eyeing her with quizzical look in her eyes. Of course she would be confused, since Sakura had completely dropped the Sasuke-fangirling stuff weeks ago. She hadn't asked him out, followed him around, or even talked to him at all. She had minded her own business and had spoken with her other classmates. Sometime, though, when she knew nobody was watching, she glanced at Sasuke secretly, cherishing the fact that he was still home.

"Forehead."Ino said as she came to a stop in front of her. Naruto quickly waved her good-bye and left, knowing that Ino would probably give him an earful if he stayed.

"Pig." Sakura smirked at her blond friend.

"What's up with you?" she frowned and bent her body to level her eyes with Sakura's, who was still sitting on her desk.

"What do you mean?"

"Sasuke! Why haven't you paid him any attention during class?" Ino put her hands on her hips defiantly. "Don't tell me that you've been meeting with him secretly or something."

"Not at all. I just decided that I won't be fangirling over him anymore." Sakura shrugged nonchalantly.

"What?!" Ino dropped her hands to her sides in surprise. "You've liked him since first year!"

"I know. I just got tired of it, you know? Besides, he doesn't seem to like it at all."

"Haaa. So you are giving up, huh?" Ino smirked. "Just wait and see, Forehead. I will be the one to win his heart over."

"So." Sakura said after smiling honestly. "Wanna be friends again? You know, since we are not rivals on this matter anymore."

Ino widened her eyes at her words. The both of them had been friends for years, scratch that, they had been best friends. They had only become rivals when they realized that they could not both have Sasuke, but somehow had still kept caring about each other. Ino smiled genuinely at Sakura and stretched her hand out in front of her.

"I believe we can work that out."

"Good." Sakura said standing up and shaking her friends arm firmly. Ino entered her fashionista mode and her trained eyes observed her skeptically.

"Forehead, have you been working out? Your arms seem to have developed some muscle."

"Just a bit." Sakura answered with a shrug. "I have for a long time you know? Maybe you just haven't paid enough attention."

"I only have eyes for Sasuke-kun. Why would I pay attention to you?" she said and pointed her finger at Sakura, who chuckled.

"Hey, Ino. I have a spare hour, wanna go shopping with me? I think I need new clothes." Sakura said, knowing that if _Ino_ of all people had noticed her developing muscles, soon the Academy teachers would notice as well.

"Ha! Of course you want me to; everyone knows that I'm the best when it comes to that." She smirked. "Come on, and hour is _so_ very littletime."

Sakura and Ino walked around the commercial street for a whole hour, looking around for new clothes for Sakura. Even though Ino complained almost nonstop, Sakura decided that she would buy clothes that were fit for battle and that, at the same time, would hide her arms and legs. That should be enough to keep her development hidden until she graduated and got assigned to Team 7. After that, she wouldn't mind too much if someone noticed that she looked physically stronger.

After waving Ino goodbye and promising to meet again another day, Sakura went home and changed her clothes. She put on black leggings that went to her mid-calves, a pink tank top and black arm warmers. She tied her weapon pouch to her right hip and left to train once again. When she arrived to the training grounds, she ran two laps to warm up and then started doing push-ups. She was at 200 and counting, when she felt a presence enter the training ground. She knew exactly who it was and had to use all of her self-control to not drop on the ground due to the utter surprise. It was Sasuke. She turned her head to the side a squinted her eyes to watch him though the scorching sun, the sweat on her face dripping down on her nose. He seemed startled to see her there. Sakura had been using that training ground often since she got there two months ago and assumed that Sasuke sometimes used it too, because his eyebrows were raised in surprise. He was panting slightly too, which meant that he probably had been running for a while.

Sakura smiled slightly at him and nodded her head in greeting, and then went back to her work-out. As soon as she did, Sasuke kept on running and left the clearing. Sakura sighed, wondering if she should've greeted with more intensity or if shouldn't have greeted him at all. Sasuke was a very difficult person to engage with, so she really had no idea how to approach him.

Hours later, when she was done with her workout and her body was screaming for rest, she slowly made her way home. As she passed a different clearing, she came across Sasuke once again, but he didn't seem to notice her presence. He couldn't blame him though; she had gotten used to hide her chakra signature in the war, and only few experienced ninja could notice her. Sasuke was hitting a tree with shurikens and kunais at a fast rate, his face with a deep scowl. His body twisted and turned in the air as he did, dodging imaginary attacks as he destroyed the tree. Sakura stood there and watched him for a long time. It was no wonder he had been considered a genius and that he was the best of the class. The boy wasn't even gennin yet and was already chuunin level. Suddenly, Sasuke's kunai missed the tree and he lost his footing at the same time. He fell down to the ground heavily and then rolled around, kneeling on the ground. He slammed his closed fist on the earth, a cloud of dust flying surrounding him. He cursed loudly and frustration was clear in his voice. Sasuke had always pressured himself too much, he had always expected too much of himself. He didn't allow himself any mistakes and his hate for his brother – the main reason for everything he did – only made it so much worse. Sakura's body moved before she even questioned her actions.

"Are you all right?" Sakura said as she walked out of her hiding spot behind a tree. Sasuke jerked up in clear surprise and then scowled at her.

"Why are you here?" he hissed, his hands still fisting the dust on the ground. "Were you watching me?"

"I was on my way home and came across this clearing. I observed you for a couple seconds, because I thought you were good." Sakura said, trying to ease the tension in the air. Sasuke scoffed at her, as if saying 'of course I am' and looked away from her. Sakura tried to prevent her eye from twitching and tried a different approach. "You should start moving your arms to throw weapons before you come face to face with your target. If you don't and move too fast, you might miss or lose you footing."

Sasuke slowly turned his head to look at Sakura, his eyes observing her thoroughly. He was quiet for a couple seconds, probably taking into consideration what she had said to him. He then stood up nonchalantly, and faced away from her. Sakura was about to leave in surrender and curse his damned attitude, when his head moved. Sasuke looked back at her over his shoulder, nodded once and then picked his weapons up. She was speechless and her eyes were wide as she watched him as he started practicing once again.

Sakura decided that it would be kind of weird if she stayed any longer, so she turned around and left. However, as her ninja sandals hit the soft leaf-covered ground, she felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips. Maybe Sasuke wasn't all that bad now and was just lonely. Maybe she would be moody and distrusting like that too if she had been though what he had and came home every day to an empty house. Maybe it was that he had been overly mature for his age or that her fangirling and Naruto's bickering had put him off. Maybe, just maybe, things could be different for him this time around.

 **A/N: Thank you for you lovely reviews. I'm glad that you liked the story! Also, the person who came into the cave on the first chapter was** _ **Kabuto**_ **, not Orochimaru. Just wanted to point that out. If you think that any of the characters is too OOC please let me know!**

 **Please leave a review, weather it is praising or criticism!**


	3. Working Together

**CHAPTER 3**

"Oi, Naruto, are you ever going to eat something other than instant ramen for lunch?" Sakura questioned with a sigh as she rested her weight on her stretched arms, feeling the soft grass under her open palms.

"What else could I eat? There's nowhere in here where I can buy a meal."

"Why don't you cook something simple sometimes? It can't be good for you to eat like that every day."

"Ehh... I don't know how to. All I can prepare myself is a sandwich or cereals." Naruto answered sheepishly and then threw Sakura a glance. "Maybe you could teach me a couple dishes."

"Maybe, but I must say that I'm not such a good cook. I'm just plain regular."

"Or. I could find a girl who can bring me lunch, y'know? Like Sasuke does. That bastard gets free lunch everyday..." Naruto trailed off. "And then _she_ and I could go on dates. And she could stay over at my place. And then we could-"

"As much as I like to know your plans for the future, I'm really not interested in knowing how you plan to spend the night with your dates."

"Haaaa. Don't act innocent, Sakura-chan." Naruto wiggled his eyebrows at her. "I'm sure you are as much a pervert as I am."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sakura said with finality and took a sip out of her water bottle. If Naruto knew how much she actually enjoyed reading Icha-Icha Paradise, he would never leave her alone. Damn Kakashi had been a terrible influence on that matter. "Anyways, you could start by trying to talk to other girls than me."

"But they're so mean." Naruto frowned.

"That's only because you always approach Sasuke's fangirls! You should try someone different. Like..."

"Like...?" Naruto slightly leaned forward in expectation.

"Like... I don't know. Hinata maybe?"

"As in Hyuuga Hinata? She never talks to me!"

"I think she's just too shy. You should give it a try; she seems like a good person." Sakura shrugged.

Suddenly the bell rang, meaning that their lunch break was over. Sakura plopped her last dango in her mouth and stood up. She dusted her clothes, making sure she was presentable for class and picked her lunch box up.

"Naru-" Sakura stopped when she noticed that Naruto was walking ahead of her, glass everywhere on his orange pants. He was a mess, really, like a small kid.

"Come on, Sakura-chan." He called over his shoulder and Sakura sighed before following him into the building. When they entered the classroom, Suzume was already walking to the front and both students hurried to their seats.

"Today we'll be doing a different activity. It'll serve to test your overall abilities as shinobi. You will have to work in pairs and try to retrieve a specific colored rubber ball from an opponent duo. At the same time, you have to keep your own ball safe. Both balls are required to pass this test and you pass once you bring them with you into the classroom." She explained and put a glass vase filled with small papers on the table in front of her. "Please stand in line and pick a paper, but don't open it up until I say so."

Everyone did as she said and then sat back down. When everyone was already sitting, she instructed them to unfold the sheets. Sakura did and noticed that there were two different things written down. First there was the number was 3 and then there was the word 'blue'.

"The first thing in there is the number of your team and the second is the color of the ball you have to get. Now please find your partner and come over here so I can write down how it's settled."

Sakura started walking around and asking who number three was. After half a minute, she felt someone behind her and turned around to see Sasuke.

"Number 3?" He simply asked and Sakura nodded. He wordlessly turned around and walked towards the teacher's desk.

As Sakura followed him, she thought that it was not that bad at all to be paired with him now. The first month or two since she came back it would've probably been terribly uncomfortable and he would've been scowling the whole time. However, the last couple months she had been training nonstop before and after class and she had encountered Sasuke at least two dozen times. At first neither had said a word and silently greeted each other with a nod. Once, Sasuke had come across Sakura when she was doing a handstand and had pointed out that she needed to work on the muscles of her forearms. Sakura had already known that, but had thanked him for his advice anyway. After that event, a couple more advices had been exchanged between the two, but nothing else. She felt that now, even though he was not at all _closer_ to her, he sort of respected her as a shinobi and didn't dislike her anymore.

When their names and their target were written down, they were handed a small green ball. Sasuke immediately took it from Suzume and put it in his pocket.

"All right. Every team will leave this class according to their assigned number and the next one will have to wait thirty seconds to take off. Remember that you are not allowed to leave the Academy or gravely injure any of your classmates."

When Sasuke and Sakura's turn came, they dashed out of the classroom and headed outside. In reality, Sakura simply followed Sasuke's lead, knowing that he assumed that she would. As soon as they were out of hearing range and well hidden behind a tall bush, Sakura held his wrist to stop him from running further.

"Wait."

"What is it?" He asked as he turned around to look at her, his voice neutral.

"A ninja's greatest skill is deception, right?" Sakura smirked and crouched next to the bush. She took a handful of leaves and some clay from under their feet. She then pressed it all together until she formed a small greenish ball. She stood up once again, holding the crafted ball up between her thumb and index. Sasuke met her gaze with a knowing glance as she henged the ball to look like the original one. "We'll hide the real ball and come back for it when we have the blue one."

"Where do you suggest we hide it?"

Sakura looked around for a bit and then jerked her head towards the left and Sasuke followed her eyes. Not far from there was a small fountain. Sakura looked at him for confirmation and received a nod. It was a smart place to hide the ball; it would be difficult for anyone else to see it there and, at the same time, easy and quick for the both of them to retrieve. Sasuke looked around to make sure they weren't being watched. Then he was gone in an instant and put the green rubber ball down and into the water. He took his empty hand out and walked to Sakura.

"Done." He said and Sakura handed him the fake ball, which he put into his pocket.

"All right. Let's go find out target ball."

Sasuke and Sakura looked around until they found Kiba and Choji. Sasuke signaled that Sakura was to engage Choji, because of their similar raw power. Sakura inwardly chuckled at that; if only he _knew_ what raw strength she actually possessed. She agreed nonetheless and they quietly approached the oblivious couple. Sasuke's footsteps could barely be heard, while Sakura's experience had completely erased her own. He seemed to notice this because he threw a curios glance at her feet. When they were getting closer, they separated a bit so that each was on an opposite side of the pair. Sakura touched her nose and pointed at Kiba. Sasuke immediately understood that Kiba would smell them soon, so he gave the signal to engage right away. Sasuke jumped at Kiba and aimed a low roundhouse kick to swipe him off his feet. He dodged just in time, but Sasuke quickly took a hold of his wrist and turned him around, immobilizing him.

Sakura had sprinted at Choji as soon as she was given the signal and chopped him on a particular part of his thigh. He yelped in surprise and slightly lost his footing. Sakura took the chance and pounded her open palm on his chest, which knocked the air out of his lungs. She jumped at him and put him in a firm lock, but had to use her whole body to keep him in place. It was not an easy task to do, seeing that he has much bigger than her and she was not allowed to hurt him. Sakura was using her only free hand to check his weapons pouch and pockets when Sasuke spoke.

"Red one." He said dropping the ball and Sakura released the heavy boy at once. She jumped up and climbed to the roof, pushing her weight form wall to wall, closely followed by Sasuke. It was the best course of action, since Choji's movements were slower when it came to jumping upwards. Being a heavy weight could give him an upper hand in a close range fight, but it hindered him if it meant making a short sprint at top speed. Kiba would be at a disadvantage if he caught up to them on his own, so he stayed behind and cursed. When they were far enough, Sasuke and Sakura stopped and hid next to a wall.

"You can keep up with me." Sasuke stated. He was obviously not expecting her to. Well, it wasn't a surprise to Sakura. She had been training her body to its limits every day for the past five months. With the help of her chakra. She had improved greatly. Sakura didn't know if she should feel good or bad at that statement, which in Sasuke's case seemed awfully a lot like a praise. Had she really been that bad back at the academy that even Sasuke had pointed out her good performance at such basic stuff?

"Yeah." She said, not knowing how to handle his words differently. "Let's find someone else."

Sasuke wordlessly agreed and he looked down to the ground level. He finally pointed at Hinata and Shikamaru.

"Sasuke, you go for Hinata." Sakura said, knowing that it would be suspicious if she defeated her in taijutsu. "We need to be as fast as we can, because her taijutsu is pretty fast."

"I know." Sasuke agreed. "You need to finish your fight with Shikamaru as soon as possible too; he's really smart and might trick you into something if given enough time to think."

Sakura nodded once at him and swiftly jumped down the roof, noiselessly landing on the floor beneath her. Sasuke was next to her in an instant and they approached their oblivious targets from behind some bushes. Sasuke, crouching next to her, raised his hand to catch her attention and then flung it forward. Both immediately dashed at the other pair.

Shikamaru tried to jump back and away from Sakura, but was immediately followed by the pinkette. Sakura threw a couple punches and kicks at him, which were blocked, but soon landed an upper cut that threw him back a couple feet. Sakura took a hold if his upper arm, twisting it around and forcing him on her knees. He said a couple courses and mumbled something about never expecting Sakura to be so swift.

On the other hand, Hinata had turned around just in time to block all of Sasuke's attacks, as was expected. It was a disadvantage that they weren't allowed to hurt each other, because that meant that the fight would mainly involve taijutsu and the Hyuugas were pretty good at it. Sasuke raised his leg and aimed a kick down at her shoulder, but she stepped aside and caught Sasuke's ankle. She pulled him closer in a tight grasp and immediately pulled the fake ball out of his pocket, where it had been clearly visible to the naked eye. Sasuke smirked at how easily she had fallen for their ploy and swirled around, breaking free of Hinata's grasp. Sasuke caught her arm and leg, putting her into a tight lock.

"Shikamaru doesn't have it." Sakura said and turned her back to Sasuke again as she blocked the other opponent's path to Hinata.

Sasuke quickly searched Hinata for the ball, finding it in his pocket right away. He smirked; it was the blue ball. _Bingo._ He punched her on his lower back to render her immobile for a couple more seconds and then took off.

"Got it!" He announced over his shoulder, but Sakura already running right next to him.

They ran across the yard, with Hinata and Shikamaru not too far behind them. They came across the fountain where they had hidden the ball in and Sakura jumped right inside, pushing her hand into the water. She grabbed the ball as she ran and followed Sasuke into the building. They entered the classroom in the blink of an eye and closed the door behind them. Suzume was sitting behind a desk and looked up at the newcomers.

"Done already?" She quirked an eyebrow. Sasuke and Sakura walked to her and handed the balls over. "It took you only ten minutes. Well done. You can go home now."

She took a couple notes and then glared at Sakura's feet. It was only at that moment that Sakura realized that she was drenched wet to her mid-thigh and that she had made a mess on the floor.

"You better clean that up."

"I'm sorry, I will." Sakura answered politely and walked out of the classroom. She was about to head to the closet where the cleaning supplies were kept, but stopped when she noticed that Sasuke had also walked out of the classroom with her.

"Huh?"

"You'll make a bigger mess if you walk around. Wait." He said and walked away. Two minutes later he was back and had two mops and a bucket. "Here."

Sakura was speechless as she received the mop. He had brought two mops. Two. Sakura had to suppress the urge to tear up when she saw him start cleaning up the mess that she had made. Of course this mess was what had allowed them to successfully pass the test with flying colors, but she had never ever imagined that _he_ would give her a hand on this. It was such a small gesture, which she would've expected of anyone else, but not him. Sasuke had become such a ruthless, selfish and cold criminal in her past life, that she had forgotten that Sasuke had once been a boy too. A moody, introverted and kind of revenge-ridden boy, but one nonetheless.

"Don't just stand there." Sasuke complained.

"Sorry!" Sakura almost yelped and hurried towards where he stood and they mopped the wet floor all the way to the entrance of the building.

"Thanks." Sakura said when they finished and he gave her a nod. Sakura had felt that, for once, she and Sasuke had worked together just fine. They had been in tune and their abilities had complemented in the right way. She knew that normally she shouldn't have said anything and that she shouldn't stretch her luck. But she felt the unnerving need to voice her thoughts. "It was good working with you."

Sasuke was quiet for a couple moments as he squeezed the water off the mop and put it against the wall. He didn't meet her gaze as he turned around to walk away. However, before he took off home he spoke in a small voice.

"It was."

Once again a smile formed on Sakura's face as she watched Sasuke walk away. It remained there as she put the cleaning supplies away and as she walked home. Only when the changed out of the damp clothes and went out for her ritual training did she manage to put on a straight face.

 **A/N: Ok, here goes another chapter. It was a short one, but I wanted to make one that portrayed some interactions between Sakura and Sasuke before graduation.**

 **Remember! Reviews are love!**


	4. Teammates

**A/N: I had made a mistake in the previous chapter and re-wrote it. Thanks for all of you who pointed it out. I had completely forgotten about that fact!**

CHAPTER 4

Sakura was feeling on edge as she sat in the academy classroom. She was worried. Did she have reason to be? Maybe. Today was the day that gennin teams would finally be announced. She had been very careful to get the same marks as she had in her previous life. It had been hard though, since she didn't really remember how exactly her results had been. It had been almost 7 years ago. She had a general idea and had tried to stick to it. But what if she hadn't? What if her marks had changed slightly and it resulted with her getting assigned to a different team? How would she help Sasuke when faced with Orochimaru? Sasuke had been the best rookie that year and he still was, so on that side things were going to stay the same.

However, she had become good friends with Naruto. It had slightly changed how he acted during class. He was still clueless on most subjects and was still as thickheaded as always, but he had shown slightly more interest in some topics during class since. It didn't help that Sakura had never paid him any attention on her first life. Had he also changed a bit back then? Hadn't he? She had realized her mistake a couple weeks before graduation and dread had filled her. Her friendship clearly meant a lot to him now and she hadn't had the heart to walk away from him now. She couldn't just stop talking to him after six months of a good friendship. For all she knew, that fact alone could change things.

If team 7 wasn't formed this time around, she honestly had no idea what course of action to take. Her whole plan had been based on the assumption that it would be. Also, she had come to care for Kakashi as a father or an older brother and, if she never met him, it would be borderline devastating for her.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Huh?" Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by her friend's voice.

"Teams are about to be assigned." He pointed out. "I thought you would want to hear that out."

"Yeah. Thanks." She managed a strained smile and then looked to the front of the class where Iruka started reading out the members of the different teams. Sakura was really nervous, fidgeting with her thumbs on her shirt and trying to keep her calm as much as she could.

"Team 7" Iruka's voice sounded clear in the room. "Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura released a small sigh that he knew she had been holding.

"Great!" Naruto cheered next to her. "Sadly we're stuck with Sasuke bastard."

On the background there were all sorts of complaints coming from Sasuke's fangirls. Sakura looked around with raised eyebrows, noticing the glares that her female classmates had been throwing her way. Her eyes moved around for a bit and she noticed that Sasuke didn't seem bothered. He hadn't seemed bothered by his assigned team last time, if she recalled correctly. It was much of a surprise though. After their good teamwork a couple weeks ago, Sasuke had seemed a little more open to her whenever they met in the training grounds. He actually looked into her eyes when he greeted her and had been giving her more advice. In return, she had also been a little friendlier to him, always being careful not to step over the invisible limit that he would have. Sakura was grateful. Even though she didn't need most of his advice - she knew exactly what she needed to work on to strengthen her body - she was glad that there were some minimal polite interactions between them.

Slowly, the members of the other team left the classroom and the three of them were left there to wait. They waited for a long time and finally ran out of everyday subjects to talk about. Naruto started bickering about how their jonin sensei dared be late and how he was going to give him a piece of his mind. How he now was a ninja as well and deserved respect. Sasuke, clearly irked by this, mentioned that he probably had a good reason to be, since he was a jonin.

"Sakura-chan. I have an idea." Naruto smiled mischievously and got up to get a board eraser. He pulled a chair to the door and stood up on it. He slightly opened the door and supported the eraser on top of it. He got off and ran back to his seat with a giggle. "That way he will learn to respect us."

"Idiot." Sasuke muttered. "Do you really think that a jonin rang shinobi will fall for such a thing? It's a child's game."

"Who are you calling an idiot, bastard?!" Naruto scowled at his raven haired teammate.

Sakura smiled as she heard the familiar nickname be used. She had to suppress the wave of memories that came with it, since she needed to focus. Yes, focus. On the door. She was so not going to miss the moment Kakashi walks into that prank. Suddenly and to her and Naruto's delight, the door opened and a masked man entered the room, the eraser falling right on top of his head. As he waved the white dust away from his face, Naruto laughed loudly and Sakura snickered, not fully managing to keep her laughter in check. Sasuke was staring at their sensei with a slight twitch on his eye, clearly taken aback by the fact that he had fallen for the prank.

"My first though on the three of you is... you are all a bunch of idiots." He said with a monotone voice. "Meet me at the rooftop."

He disappeared right afterwards and Sasuke turned a cold stare at Naruto.

"Well done, idiot. Now our sensei thinks low of us."

"It was hilarious!" Naruto laughed again as he stood up after the Uchiha. "Even Sakura-chan thought it was funny."

"Yeah, it kinda was." Sakura answered truthfully and followed her two teammates.

They got to the rooftop two minutes later and found their sensei sitting under the shadow of a wall. The three of them sat in front of him and waited for their sensei to speak.

"Well, I guess you could start by telling me something about yourselves." He said, but only received blank stares in return. "You know, like your name, hobbies, likes, dislikes and dreams."

"Why don't you start, sensei?" Sakura pointed out.

"I guess I could." Kakashi put his hand to his chin in a thoughtful manner. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. My hobbies... I have some of them. My likes... I have a few... I don't particularly dislike anything. My dreams for the future... you don't need to know that."

"You only told us your name!" Naruto complained.

"Now you." Kakashi said waving his hand towards Naruto.

"All right! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and my hobbies are doing pranks and eating ramen. I like ramen and spending time with Sakura-chan. I dislike bastards and mean people." He threw a glance at Sasuke, who blatantly ignored him. "And my dream for the future is to become the greatest Hokage ever! That way people will learn to respect me!"

"Oooookay." Kakashi trailed off and then looked at Sakura, who was between Naruto and Sasuke. "Now you."

"My name is Haruno Sakura." She started, knowing exactly what she was going to say. "My hobbies are studying medical ninjutsu and spending time with my friends. I like training to improve as a kunoichi and reading about politics and strategy. I dislike it when people betray their closed ones and I also dislike war. My dream for the future is keeping the village save and making my closed ones happy."

"Well, that was deep." Kakashi said with a monotone voice and turned to Sasuke. "You're the last."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like anything and I dislike a lot of things. My dream for the future is not a dream because I will make it true. I will restore my clan and... kill a certain someone."

"You want children already? You do know that in order to do that you have to... you know?" Naruto wiggled his eyebrows and received a smack on the back of the head by Sakura.

"Naruto." She called.

"All right, all right. Sorry." He scratched the back of his head.

"I have bad news for ya." Kakashi said, interrupting the exchange and successfully getting his students attention. "Around 30% of all new genin will go back to the academy."

"What?!" Naruto demanded. "But we already graduated!"

"Graduation is only a pre-selection. The real test will be conducted by me tomorrow."

"No one informed us of this." Sasuke slightly frowned.

"Well, now you know. Tomorrow we will meet at 8 sharp at training ground 3. You better not eat breakfast; you'll throw up of you do." Kakashi waved and puffed out of there. Silence ensued afterwards and Sakura felt Sasuke slightly shift, clearly wanting to leave.

"Guys." She called. "Want to go training together? You know... since we're now a team and all."

"We might stop being one tomorrow, Sakura." Sasuke reminded her.

"Maybe. But what if the test requires us to work together? Maybe we have to face off against another team... or a stronger enemy. We could get know each others fighting style or something."

"I'm in, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called and she smiled at him. Then she moved her gaze towards Sasuke expectantly.

"Sorry, but I rather work on my own." Sasuke waved them good-bye and left. Sakura watched him with a slight frown until Naruto spoke up.

"Don't mind that bastard, Sakura-chan! We'll be better off without his bitter scowl ruining our day." Naruto grinned and took a hold of her arm, dragging her over to a training ground.

Sakura and Naruto trained together for the first time in this timeline, starting with their general shinobi skills - taijutsu and weaponry. They stayed out until it was around 8 pm. and Naruto's belly started growling in complaint, wince he couldn't go over 5 hours without proper food. He asked Sakura if she wanted to go to Ichiraku's with him, but she refused and stayed back to train some more.

Sakura started with what had become her regular agenda; two laps around the forest, 400 squints, pushups and sit-ups, and finally a couple quick sprints around the clearing. After almost two hours of pushing her muscles to their limit, Sakura started training her chakra control.

When she finally decided to head home at 11 pm, she walked across Sasuke's training spot, as usual. It shouldn't have, but it took her by surprise to see that he was there training all by himself. He didn't really give his teammates a second thought, not that he really anyone else a second thought. He had rather trained by himself than together with them. Sakura noticed that his body language slightly changed when she neared his clearing, but he didn't give her any sign of recognition, as he had been doing these past weeks. It struck her more than it should have and Sakura wondered if she would be able to make a difference in whatever future he chose for himself. She felt so shaken by the fact that whatever progress that had been made these part months had disappeared, that she even started doubting her own ability to save the future. Sakura came home feeling hopeless and with a huge lump in her throat. She tossed and turned in her bed for a long time and finally fell asleep almost as two in the morning.

The next morning, Sakura ate breakfast and came to the training ground at the appointed time. She got there after Sasuke did and greeted him with a small 'good morning', receiving only a nod in response. After ten minutes of silence, Naruto arrived with his usual cheeriness and Sakura was kind of glad. Things had felt a bit weird with Sasuke that morning and she didn't exactly know what had happened. Naruto's presence definitely made things easier and she quickly got absorbed into the conversation.

Hours later and when even Naruto had ran out of conversation topics, Kakashi finally arrived and greeted them with his usual wave.

"You're late, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled and pointed an accusing finger at him, clearly upset at having to wait for hours.

"You see, I was on my way here, but came across a black cat. So I just had to take the longest route here to avoid-"

"Liar!" Naruto yelled again and Sakura could see Sasuke's eyebrow twitch at the terrible excuse their sensei had made up. It was clear that both boys were kind of upset with their sensei and that he, at the same time, didn't really give a shit. However, seeing Kakashi alive and reliving his bad habits made Sakura feel bubbly inside. She tried at first, but in the end couldn't suppress the giggle that escaped her lips and in the end became a laugh. She could feel that the slight tension in the air was gone the moment she did. She even saw Naruto laugh a bit and even saw Sasuke's lip slightly twitch upwards.

"Okay, so today we'll begin with our test." He said and held a hand up with two bells. "Whoever gets a bell will be able to truly graduate and will gets lunch, will the losers will go back to the academy and get tied to a post as he watched the rest eat."

"But sensei, there's only two bells." Sakura asked even though she already knew the answer. "Does that mean that at least one of us will be sent back no matter what?"

"Exactly."

"That doesn't sound right. Aren't we supposed to be a team?" Sakura tried to pull the conversation into that direction to give her teammates some hints.

"Well, sometimes you have to choose the mission above your teammates." Kakashi said and then added with finality. "Enough chat now. The test will start when I say go."

Naruto made a move on Kakashi and he was pushed down to the ground by their sensei. "I said 'when I say go'. I want the three of you to come at me with the will to kill, or you will never be able to get a bell. Got it? I'm setting this alarm clock at noon, that's when your time will be up. Okay? Ready. Go!"

Kakashi had barely finished his words when Sakura jumped up into the tree foliage. She felt Sasuke hiding not far from her - obviously waiting for an opening - and almost face palmed when she saw Naruto still down in the clearing. She masked her own chakra and watched as Naruto started attacking Kakashi with his Shadow clones in a completely obvious way. Sakura almost chuckled when Kakashi caught Naruto in an easy booby trap, which left him hanging head down from a tree.

As soon as Naruto was caught, Sasuke threw a barrage of shurikens and kunai at Kakashi, who made a substitution jutsu, so the weapons got embedded into a log. Sasuke, seeing that his opponent was hiding and now knew his position, turned around and fled into the trees. Kakashi followed him, and Sakura jumped down from her hiding spot. She cut Naruto's rope in one swift motion and held his ankle just in time to avoid having him crash down head first. Naruto got on his feet and was about to say something loudly, but Sakura covered his mouth with her hand.

"Baka! Do you want to give us away?" She hissed lowly.

"Sorry." Naruto said into her hand lowly and she removed it. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

"No problem. Naruto, I need you to follow me and promise that you won't laugh no matter what you find." She said and Naruto raised an eyebrow at her strange request. "Just promise for real."

"Err.. ok I promise."

"Good! Now come on!" Sakura said and sprinted through the forest, jumping from tree to tree and with Naruto on her heels.

Soon she felt Sasuke's chakra signature and headed his way. When she landed on the ground she had to suppress the urge to laugh at him; he had been buried on the ground so deep that only his head was poking out of it. She looked back at Naruto who was about to mock Sasuke and threw him a glare that had him shutting up. He rolled his eyes and mumbled something about Sakura being too serious. Sakura turned her attention back to the Uchiha in front of her and noticed that he was looking at her with a slight blush on his cheeks, clearly feeling embarrassed by him situation. Sakura kneeled down next to him and leveled her eyes with his.

"Sasuke. I'm going to get you out of here." Sakura said and he nodded at her. She thought about it for a while and gathered as little chakra a possible around her fists and slammed them on the floor on either side of the raved haired boy. She ground cracked around him, allowing him to get out of it just before the hole cramped in on itself. Sakura was glad that she had used the minimum amount of chakra, because otherwise she would've hurt Sasuke.

"Wow! Cool, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered.

"How did you do that?" Sasuke eyed her curiously, his raised eyebrows almost disappearing behind his bangs.

"Ahhh, well. I've been training a lot so I picked up a thing or two." She smiled sheepishly and then put on a straight face. "Now listen to me. We have to work as a team. We will never be able to defeat Kakashi if we go on our own."

"But Sakura-chan, there's only two bells." Naruto said.

"Don't worry. I'll give the bell to you if I get one." Sakura said and Sasuke, who was right next to her, snorted. He clearly didn't believe her.

"No way! I'm not letting you fail like that! Much less because of this bastard!" Naruto complained.

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in letting you drag me down, dobe." Sasuke said standing up. "I'm all right with working with Sakura, but not with _you_. So I will work on my own."

"Stop! The only way for us to pass-"

"Ha! You think _I_ want to work together with _you_? You should know that I would rather work on my own too."

"Good."

"Good."

"Guys!" Sakura was going to say something else, but she had been left alone in the forest in the blink of an eye. Her eye twitched at her teammate's antics and then she sighed heavily, running a hand over her tied up hair. In the end she decided to find Naruto first and talk him into working together. As she headed towards where he had left to, she sensed Kakashi nearing her. She acted oblivious until he was close enough to be sensed by and experienced genin and then turned around to face him.

"I know you are there, Kakashi-sensei." She said firmly and getting into a defensive stance.

"I have to say I surprised. I didn't expect you to feel my presence." He said and then she immediately launched at him with a medium level attack, which he obviously dodged. Sakura inwardly sighed, knowing that she couldn't reveal her real strength and that there was no use in trying to get a bell on her own. He raised a lone eyebrow at her slightly higher ability and then made a couple hand signs.

Sakura allowed herself to be pulled into the genjutsu and stared at the place where a bloody person stood. It surprised her that the person was not Sasuke like last time, but Naruto instead. Apparently she had done well when hiding her feelings for the Uchiha and Kakashi had obviously known about her friendship with Naruto. The genjutsu was a low level one and she was on a complete different level, but seeing him there filled her with dread. It reminded her of the day that she had helplessly held Naruto's corpse in her hands. All of his _cold_ blood and his dull blue eyes.

"S-Sakura-chan." The fake Naruto spoke and she dispelled the jutsu without a second thought.

Sakura had to crouch down for a moment and breathe in deeply a couple of time to clear her head. She could feel her hands trembling a bit and cold sweat running down her neck. When she was finally regaining her senses, she heard a loud ring, which meant that their time to get the bells was over.

Sakura got to the rendezvous point and was met with a familiar sight. Naruto was tied on a post with a frown on his face and Sasuke was not far from him sitting on the ground. Sakura approached quickly and then turned to Kakashi, who was standing in front of them with his arms crossed.

"Naruto was tied to the post because he tried to steal his lunch." Kakashi answered Sakura's silent question. "And, now that you are all here I have to say the following. You've all… _failed._ "

"Noooo!" Naruto wailed and Sasuke scowled. Sakura tried to look upset, but wasn't sure if she actually managed to.

"Yes. The goal of this exercise was to get the three of you to work as a team." Kakashi explained. "There is a reason why shinobi work as a team; you have to always work together no matter what. If you want to accomplish things on your own at the expense of your teammate, you probably will die out there in the field on your first mission. Even rouge nin and criminals work in teams. There are enemies stronger than me that you will face in the future and you will need to work together to defeat them. For example." Kakashi appeared behind Sakura, who tensed but remained still at the feeling of Kakashi's kunai on the throat. "Sasuke, kill Naruto or Sakura dies."

Sasuke looked at Sakura in the eye and then glanced back at the ground, understanding that his course of action had been wrong and that he should've listened to her. Naruto was quiet too and looked at Sakura with an apologetic glance. Kakashi disappeared in a poof and went back to his previous spot.

"Do you understand? Now, I will go away for a while now and allow the two of you to eat lunch. When I come back, you will all try to pass the test again. However, Naruto is being punished, so if you give him food, you will all definitely fail." He waved at them and left.

Sakura opened her lunch box and her nostrils immediately filled with the smell of the delicious food in front of her. She heard Naruto's stomach grumble next to her and she moved to give him some food, but Sasuke's hand caught her wrist.

"Stop. Do you want us to fail?" Sasuke said looking into her eyes. "I know that you take his profession seriously like I do, so don't throw it all away."

"Sasuke, if Naruto doesn't get any food he won't have any energy to fight at all."

"Well, if he doesn't pass it's not our fault. You and I will pass together - I know you're stronger than you seem - and find another teammate to fill in for him." Sasuke's words towards her would have made her feel glad in a different situation, but the knowledge that he was _willing_ to ditch Naruto made her feel disappointed and angry.

"No! Sasuke, didn't you just hear Kakashi out? We need to look after each other to survive out there. We will have to trust our lives to our teammates!" Sakura complained and locked eyes with the raven haired boy in front of her. She firmly held his gaze for a couple seconds, while he seemed to contemplate her words. "If we can't risk going back to the academy for one another, how are we supposed to risk our lives?"

"Whatever. _You_ give him some of your lunch. He's your friend, isn't he?"

Sakura frowned and gave Naruto some of her lunch, who accepted it with a smile. However, Sakura could tell that Naruto was angry at Sasuke, since he kept looking at him darkly.

Everything afterwards happened the way she remembered; Kakashi came in, asked them why they had disobeyed, they had answered that they were looking after eachother, Kakashi had passed them and told them his motto. 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.'

When he left, Sakura cut the ropes tying Naruto to the post and he stood up. He stretched his body and massaged the sore spots left by the tight rope. Sakura could feel that things were not as peaceful as last time and it was all due to Sasuke's reluctance to feeding Naruto. Why had Sasuke reacted that way? What had changed in his mind?

"Hey, I totally feel like training now. You guys want to train together this time?" Sakura asked with a smile, trying to ease the tension in the air.

"Ok." Sasuke said as he stood up. Clearly the previous lesson had taught him about teamwork and he had opened up to the idea.

"Ha! There's no way I'm training with that bastard!" Naruto growled and glared at Sasuke. "Besides, that little amount of food is barely a fraction of what I need. I will go to Ichuraku's now. Sakura are you coming with me?"

Sakura gulped at the lack of 'chan'. Naruto was really pissed at Sasuke and no wonder. She looked at Naruto and then back at Sasuke, noting that both were watching her expectantly. Naruto was Sakura's best friend, but she couldn't really let this chance to get Sasuke open up pass just like that.

"Naruto, I really want to train. If you want, we can go grab something to eat tomorrow."

"Tss... whatever. I'll see you in the morning." Naruto waved back at her and left.

Sakura looked at his retreating back until he disappeared and felt a little worried. Sasuke and Naruto had not been friends in the beginning, but they had definitely not acted like this; it had always been more of a rivalry between them. Somehow, Sakura becoming friends with Naruto - and him growing out of his crush for her - and her improved abilities had changed everything. Now, Naruto didn't feel like competing against Sasuke and Sasuke didn't ignore her as much as he had used to.

Sakura wondered how this slight change in the way they related to one another would change their team dynamics.

 **A/N: Well, that was it. Tell me what you think about it!**

 **I want to thank all of you who have been reviewing and following my story! – NarutoXHonoka, anan, m4530657, multipass22, Uchiha Misaki, Lucifer, Just Peachy 1236, Sophiebybophie, PapaOwl.**

 **I also am grateful for any constructive criticism and input. I love your support! Thank you so much!**


	5. Sparring

CHAPTER 5

In her previous life, Sakura had been all over Sasuke. She had constantly harassed him and followed him around asking for dates – she must've been annoying, as he had used to bluntly state. In her previous life, Sakura had not been friends with Naruto and he had had a crush on her. She had constantly pushed him away and had been truly rude to him. It made sense that Naruto had considered Sasuke a rival at that time and had tried to challenge him on everything. Of course, she was friends with Naruto this time around and he didn't have a crush on her, and therefore he probably didn't feel the need to prove himself in front of Sasuke. That explained his different approach to him and to her. However, Sasuke had never been _such_ a jerk last time, if she remembered correctly. Sasuke had always been a bit cold and distant with them, but he had never acted so disrespectful and cruel towards Naruto. Sakura had _no_ idea what had happened this time that had pushed Sasuke to act like this. Maybe they had a problem that she didn't know of? Maybe something had happened to Sasuke in particular?

"Sakura." Sasuke's strong voice suddenly pulled her out of her thoughts and she turned around to face him, noticing that she had been staring at the road which Naruto had taken for at least a minute.

"Yeah?"

"I've asked you twice already. Do you have something particular in mind for training?" he repeated patiently.

"Oh. That. Well, I have a couple ideas. Maybe we could spar for a while to see what our abilities are." Sakura said trailing off.

"I agree, but I have a question first. What was that thing you did back at in the forest when you cracked the ground?"

"Oh. You see, I really like reading about great ninja figures and stuff… and I came across an interesting ability. It's based on chakra control, in which you gather it around a certain part of your body and it allows you to increase your strength or speed greatly."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and looked down at his hand. He closed his eyes, trying to do what she had said, and then slammed his closed fist on the ground. He groaned, partly from slight pain and partly because his strength hadn't seemed to increase at all. The slight frown on his face made him look boyish and Sakura had to suppress the urge to compare him with the old Sasuke in her head.

"It's not easy, Sasuke." Sakura said. "You have to train for a long time to get better on chakra control. If you want, I can teach you a couple exercises to get better at it." She said tentatively and he nodded at her. "Great. Look, the first step it to be able to manipulate your chakra so that it becomes sticky. You can try channeling it to your fingertips, since it's the easiest part to do so, and try to get leaves to stick to them."

Sasuke kneeled down and picked up a tree leave. He closed his eyes, concentrating his chakra where she had told him, and then placed the leave on his thumb. He opened his eyes and slowly turned his hand around, intently observing it as he did so. The green foliage stuck to his finger a second longer than usual and then fell to the ground.

"I see." He nodded once. "I'll keep on practicing, but later. Now, let's spar."

Sakura widened her eyes slightly at his eagerness to face off against her. He had never shown any true interest in her abilities before, but it _did_ make sense, since she had been much weaker than him. She looked into his eyes and noticed that there was the glint that she always saw on people who loved a challenge. And then it hit her. Now she was _stronger_ than Naruto, so Sasuke had turned his challenging nature towards her instead. He had never given her a second thought last time, and now that attitude was directed towards Naruto. Maybe he had been rude to him because he was not a girl and Sasuke had been raised in a conservative environment, so he would've been expected to be _a bit_ of a gentleman.

Sakura noticed that Sasuke had not waited for her answer and had retreated back a couple meters. He gotten into a fighting stance and was waiting for her to do the same. Sakura immediately crouched down and raised her fists in front of her chest. Sasuke launched at her and aimed a kick at her side, which she blocked and in return tried to elbow him on the chest. He jumped back to avoid it, but she went right after him. She hook-punched him on the jaw, but he crouched at the last second and did a low roundhouse kick to her feet. She did a backwards handspring and landed not too far. She saw that he was going at her again, and tried to punch him again, this time an uppercut, but he caught her wrist and tried to lock her down. However, Sakura quickly twisted her arm around in the proper way out of the lock and caught his wrist instead. She smirked at the surprised look on his face and then swirled him around. He kicked her forearm, forcing her to loosen her hold, and then aimed a punch at her gut. Sakura felt his fist connect with her lower stomach, but she tightly tensed its muscles to sustain the hit and grabbed his arm once again. She quickly stepped behind him and tried to put her other arm around his neck. Sasuke immediately rolled away from her, using his full body weight, and forcing her to release his arm and to crouch down. Like this, they exchanged taijutsu blows for over an hour, only getting hit a couple times each. Sasuke finally stood up on and locked eyes with her.

"Not bad." He said with a smirk and Sakura mirrored his expression.

He pulled his hand into his weapon holster and threw a barricade of shuriken at her. Sakura took her kunai out and deflected the attacks aimed to her torso, as she sidestepped the attacks to her legs. Sasuke came at her once again, kunai in hand, and aimed at her shoulder. Their kunais clashed and they pushed with all their might, deciding that their physical strength was on par. They aimed at each other over and over again, but every time the attack would be deflected or dodged. Sakura, tired of the long and tedious exchange, jumped back and then threw her kunai back at him. He widened his eyes when he noticed that it had an explosive tag attached to it so he jumped out of the way. Even though the smoke of the explosion was thick, Sasuke managed to see from the edge of his eye that Sakura was throwing more weapons his way. He quickly made a couple hand signs and her weapons hit a log. She looked around, knowing that he was hiding on top of a tree to her right, praising him for his ability at hiding. He was clearly much better than every other genin and she could clearly assess that now that she was a higher level.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu!"

Sakura widened her eyes and, in the blink of an eye, jumped out of the way of the huge fire ball that came her way. She glared at the burnt ground that she had just been standing on and then back at where Sasuke had landed on the ground not far from her.

"You could've really hurt me with that. You should be glad that I'm not slow." She stated. She was certain Sasuke _knew_ that any genin would've probably been hit by that technique and was bothered by the fact that he had used it anyways.

"Well, you were the one who raised the level by using and explosive tag. Besides, I knew you would dodge." He shrugged. Sakura said nothing and quickly made some hand signs, deciding to use a justsu that she had been perfecting the last couple month or two.

"Suiton: Teppōdama!"

Sasuke immediately jumped out of the way, dodging the continuous balls of water that had been formed out of a river close to the east. He twisted and turned around in the air, trying to dodge the small condensed water balls with practiced ease. Sakura felt like testing him further and increased the rate at which the balls were launched. Sasuke's body moved faster too, but it was clear that he was at his speed limit, since he barely doges and had a strained look on his face. Suddenly, his feet landed on a puddle of water and, as he tried to move again, he slipped. He fell down, luckily avoiding the blow, but falling on his side on the mud. Sasuke immediately stood up and faced Sakura once again, who had stopped throwing water balls at him. He had raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she was just standing there, when she started laughing her ass off.

"PPffff.. hahahaha.. so-sorry…. Hahahahahaha!" Sakura had to hold her belly; she couldn't believe that _Sasuke_ , the strong and ruthless criminal had actually _slipped_ on a puddle of mud while he dodged an attack. Her laughing abruptly stopped when she was harshly pushed off her feet and onto the ground. Sasuke's left hand was firmly holding her right wrist next to her head, his right forearm was pushing down on her left hand and his right arm pressing a kunai to her throat. She gasped in surprise, not at his attack, but at his proximity. His head had less than a palm away from her own and his breath was tickling on her nose. His dark eyes were serious as they locked with hers and she was sure that she should be able to count his eyelashes from that distance.

"You can't put your guard down, Sakura." Sasuke said and, for some reason, his voice seemed much deeper. It reminded Sakura of the Sasuke of previous life, the one that she had fallen in love with and the one that she had always felt so attracted to. Sasuke's legs were straddling her hips and Sakura presumed that if she bent her hips upwards a bit, she would feel his body against hers. She felt a shiver go down her spine and warmth spread all over her body. _Oh, hell no!_

"Eh… right. You can get off me now." Sakura shifted under his hold, averting her eyes and refusing to look into his obsidian orbs for any longer. Sasuke wordlessly got to a standing position and offered her a hand, which she took and allowed him to pull her up. He let go of her hand and frowned down at his muddy clothes. "You should wash those soon or they will get ruined."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded at her once and then turned to pick his weapons up, which were all over the training ground. Sakura did the same with her own weapons and put her away into her pouch. When they were both finished, Sasuke turned to look at her once again. "You staying?"

"Yeah, for a while longer." Sakura answered and he nodded once, waved at her and turned to leave. "See you tomorrow."

Sakura wouldn't know if Sasuke had reacted to her farewell, because she had immediately turned away from him. She had suppressed it for a couple minutes, but now she was uncontrollably blushing. She had never _ever_ been that close to Sasuke in her life. And only in their first day as a team she had already felt his goddamned breath on her face. She was barely thirteen, and Sasuke was still twelve. They were frigging _kids_ for God's sake. She had to get a grip.

Sakura finally managed to put her Icha-Icha natured thoughts away and started working on building her chakra reserves. She stayed out for another hour or two, until the sky turned red and then finally decided to leave the training grounds. Before dawn settled in, she walked towards Naruto's apartment and knocked on the door a couple times. Not long after, her blond friend opened up and peeked out.

"Sakura-chan!" he smiled and further opened the door to let her in. "I'm sorry for the mess."

"Naruto, your house always looks the same. I honestly never expect it to be any cleaner." Sakura sighed and then wrinkled her nose at the sight of a plate of decaying food. "But you really should clean up."

"Ehh… I might do that. But later; now I'm going out to Ichiraku's." Naruto said picking up his only pair of shoes and putting them on. "Come on, Sakura-chan."

Sakura wordlessly followed her friend with a smile and closed the door to his apartment with a smile. As they walked down the road, Sakura noticed that the blonde was more quiet than usual. He probably was still put off by the exchange with Sasuke at noon.

"Naruto, don't be angry." She sighed. "Sasuke seems like the kind of person that has difficulty accepting others."

"Did he send you here to apologize? If he did, tell him that he should come himself." Naruto frowned and crossed his hands in front of him.

"He didn't. I just thought I should tell you so that we can improve our teamwork."

"He didn't? So the bastard won't even come out of his way to apologize, huh?"

"Naruto. I know that what he said was kind of rough, but don't hold on to this. Give him a second chance, all right?" Sakura hopefully looked into her friends blue eyes.

"When you ask me like that I can't refuse. It's not fair, Sakura-chan." He sighed and then jumped slightly, realizing that they had gotten to Ichiraku's already. Naruto immediately stormed in with enthusiasm. "Jii-chan! The usual!"

Sakura walked to sit down next to him and ordered her own dinner. Sakura looked at Naruto and noticed that there was an uncontrollable grin on his young face. It always amazed her how he always managed to feel happy and forget all his troubles with the simplest things. She knew that he sometimes hurt – he was human after all – but his emotional resilience had always impressed her. If someone on her team had treated her so badly on her first day and at _twelve_ , she would've probably felt destroyed for the whole day. Somehow, Naruto had simply gotten angry at him and then simply brushed it off. The thought that maybe he was used to that kind of treatment broke her heart. Thankfully, in a couple years everyone would realize their mistake and Naruto would become a hero. And then die. Sakura flinched a bit and tightened her hands into fists. _He would become a hero and_ not _die if she had a say._

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto called with his mouth full of food and she realized that he was already eating his second serving. "Not hungry?"

"Oh, I just got distracted for a second." Sakura waved her hand dismissively and then started eating.

"What? Already thinking about what's underneath somebody's pants?"

"Naruto!" Sakura slightly bumped his arm with her own, but laughed nonetheless.

She always had to laugh at his obscene jokes; he had such a wide imagination on that matter. It was no wonder that he had created multiple versions of his Sexy no Jutsu. Sakura had always thought that it had been Jiraiya's influence, but now saw that Naruto was a pervert of his own.

Sakura sighed; her team was filled with perverts. First of all, Naruto. Secondly, Kakashi. Thirdly, Sakura herself. Yes, she was a bit of a pervert; she had grown to like Icha-Icha and adult natured literature and subjects, but not many people knew of that. Actually, only Naruto and Ino. Sakura wondered for a moment if Sasuke was secretly a pervert too, because if he was, their team would definitely be the most fucked up team ever. The kyuubi jinchuuriki, the last Uchiha avenger, the time travelling girl and the masked creep. All of them perverts; Sakura slightly chuckled at the thought.

The rest of the evening went by as usual, with the both of them talking about light subjects and laughing their asses off. When they finished their dinner, they parted ways and Sakura went home. She greeted her parents, who were in the kitchen, and sat with them for ten or twenty minutes to tell them about her day and listen to their own. Ever since she had come back, she had grown to value her parents much more; she had already lost them once and deeply regretted not paying them any attention.

When Sakura got up to her room, she realized that it was almost 10 pm. She still had an hour or two to kill before she went to bed, so she quietly crouched down in front of her closed and did a couple hand signs. In a puff, a wooden floor tile became apparently loose and she lifted it, revealing a small rectangular hole underneath. It was just big enough to fit an excessively thick notebook, which she took out and laid it on top of her small desk. She took it out of the plastic bag where she had put it in so that the dust would not damage the pages. This was an important document; she had been writing down everything relevant from her past life down there. The chronological order of the events and its approximate of exact dates. The different connections between them and how they affected the international relations between countries. How the different criminal had acted on her past life and what their background and abilities had been. It was such an enormous amount of intelligence, that she written it all in a tiny _tiny_ calligraphy, afraid that the 600 pages would not be enough. She didn't want to have two different books, because it would make it more difficult to look after. Sakura had already used half the pages in it and suspected that she was not halfway through all of her memories yet. Sakura sighed as she stretched the fingers on her hands, then picked up the point pen up and inserted in the ink bottle next to her.

 _All right. Now with Nagato._

Sakura woke up the next day with and looked at the alarm clock. She jerked up, realizing that she had forgotten the set it last night. She almost fallen asleep on top of her desk and had sleepily put her notes under the floor tile. She had performed the jutsu and grown herself on her bed, immediately falling asleep. Now, not only had she missed her morning training, but also was late to meet her team. She ran to the bathroom, showered and got dressed in less than ten minutes. She quickly headed to the bridge, where she was meant to meet up with them, as she ate a slice of bread. When she got there she sighed in relief; Kakashi was still not there. She inwardly sighed at the tense atmosphere surrounding her other two teammates.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto smiled and walked towards her. "You're late!"

"Sorry. I overslept." Sakura apologized.

"I had to stand here awkwardly with this bastard for over an hour." He quietly mumbled, so that only she could hear.

"Sasuke." Sakura greeted and the raven haired boy looked her way, nodding once.

"This is the first time you've ever been late to anything." Naruto pointed out. "What happened?"

"Not much, I just forgot to set up my alarm clock."

"Ehhh. Really, Sakura-chan. What were you up to last night?" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Sakura suddenly felt self-conscious, seeing that Sasuke was listening to their conversation.

"Baka!" Sakura slapped the blonde in the back of the head and he laughed mischievously.

"Kakashi is late _again_." Naruto complained. Sakura smiled, knowing that he would be late almost every time and they sat down.

The three of them waited for another fifteen minutes and Sasuke remained characteristically quiet, until their sensei arrived. Naruto complained about his lack of punctuality and he gave a lame excuse, as usual. He then announced that they would have their first mission, which made Naruto and Sasuke look up expectantly. Their eagerness disappeared as soon as they found out that they were supposed to help out on a local farm.

Team 7 had to help with the rehabilitation of an old granary. They had to carry heavy logs and beams for the whole morning and use them to reconstruct the roof. Naruto said that he was claiming the right to work with Sakura, since he had been friends with her before. In the end, Sasuke was put on top of the walls, receiving the wooden parts that Naruto and Sakura were pushing up for him. Sakura and Naruto engaged on a light conversation as they worked together, teasing each other and recalling funny events that they had lived together. Naruto acted as if Sasuke wasn't there, but Sakura threw a glance his way every now and then. She noticed that there was a strange expression on his face, but it was so expertly masked that she couldn't pinpoint what it was.

They had a quick lunch break together, in which Naruto talked most of the time and only to Sakura. Sasuke didn't seem to want to participate, so she didn't try to involve him either - he bad always been more of an introverted person. After they finished eating their sandwiches, they went back to work once again.

"Wow, Sakura-chan. Your arms don't look as strong as they are. You've been working out?" Naruto pulled her out of her thoughts. Even Naruto had been observant enough to see that she was the only one who seemed unfazed by the fact the they'd been lifting heavy weights for almost three hours.

"I have. You should too, you know?" she answered as she lifted on side of a particularly big beam up her head as Naruto lifted the other one.

"I'm not weak!" Naruto furrowed his brows and then moved to the center of the beam, trying to hold its whole weight by himself. "In fact, I could do this by myself if I wanted to."

"Wait Naruto, don't-" Sakura's warning was in vain, as he forcefully pulled the beam out of her grasp. He used too much strength and wasn't capable of keeping the heavy wooden piece in control. It fell down on top of a wooden column that still wasn't firmly joined to the beams and it made a domino effect, which destroyed almost everything they had done.

"Naruto!" Sakura wailed. "Look at what you've done!"

"I'm so sorry." Naruto looked down.

"I would've expected you to be able to at least successfully lift a beam." Sasuke said after landing on the ground next to them. He was more than upset, seeing that they would have to redo almost all of the work they had done so far.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Naruto scowled.

"Exactly what you heard, dobe." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke!" Sakura tried to stop their bickering once again.

"Sasuke, you know think you're so great, huh?" Naruto scoffed. "I bet you think that strength is the only thing that defines a ninja. I guess you're too thickheaded to even grasp the real meaning of what Kakashi taught us on our first day. Maybe your hateful self isn't capable of understanding such a concept."

"I did grasp it." Sasuke voice lowered and his eyes became cold; Naruto's comment had stuck a nerve on the avenger. "But having an incapable member will definitely not help us survive out there."

"Bastard, I'll show you inability!" Naruto growled and jumped at Sasuke. However, he was stopped by Sakura, who tightly held him in place by his shirt. "Sakura, let go! I will show this bastard how bad a shinobi I really am!"

Naruto glared at Sasuke and tightened his fists. Sakura feared that this would end up in and ugly fight - not a spar.

"Guys, we need to finish this job." Sakura said through gritted teeth as she felt Naruto squirm in her hold. "Don't act like a child."

"What about Sasuke, huh? This is not the first annoying remark he has made!"

"I just stated the truth." Sasuke said coolly, but Sakura knew him well enough and could tell that he was really pissed. It reminded her of the day when they had fought at the roof top.

"Stop!" Sakura raised her voice and tightened her hold when Naruto tried to jump at Sasuke once again. "Listen, both of you. We will finish our first mission successfully, so the two of you better start behaving like a team."

Both males glared at each other nastily, and it was nothing like the challenging looks they had thrown at each other in her previous life. They finally turned around and silently got back to work. The next four hours were mostly spent in awkward silence and they only talked when strictly necessary. Obviously, the only person who the boys interacted with was Sakura, since they had been blatantly ignoring each other.

When they finally finished their mission, Kakashi appeared with a new Icha-Icha book and said that they were dismissed and that they would meet at the training grounds. When he disappeared in a poof, the awkwardness came back on full force.

"Sakura-chan, I'm going to Ichiraku's. Wanna come?"

Sakura looked at Naruto and then at Sasuke, who were both staring at her. She couldn't turn Naruto down again, but she was afraid that whatever frail understanding she had come to build with Sasuke would be destroyed.

"I'll go, but please not Ichiraku's again." She said and the blonde beamed. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up in a second."

Naruto nodded and left at once. She turned to glance at the other boy, who was nonchalantly standing in front of her. She walked two steps until the was closer to him and sighed.

"Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Please try to get along with Naruto." She softly said, but he simply looked away. Well, there goes that approach. "Want to meet up and train later on?"

He turned his head to lock eyes with her again and she swore she saw his lips twitch lightly, as if he wanted to smile. "At yesterday's spot."

Sakura smiled, waved him goodbye and hurried after Naruto. As she approached his figure, she felt the emotional strain of the whole day on her shoulders. Honestly, if every day was going to be like this, she was going to lose her mind.

 **A/N: There it is! I want to thank all of you who have reviewed; Fangirl, Paula Abelenda, Uchiha Misaki, multipass22, NarutoXHonoka, nakamura1miu. I'm loving your imput!**

 **Please tell me what you think of the fight scene between Sasuke and Sakura and of Sasuke's and Naruto's interactions. If you have any ideas or questions please let me know!**


	6. Departure

CHAPTER 6

"So, forehead. You sure Naruto doesn't like you anymore?"

"Oh, pretty sure. He makes jokes in front of me that a kid like him would never do in front of his crush." Sakura waved the idea off. "He's completely overgrown it. We're just friends."

"Sakura. You don't like Naruto, do you? I mean you stopped liking Sasuke-kun at the same time that your friendship with Naruto started."

"What? No! Naruto is really sweet - err sometimes - and a nice guy, but there's no way I could see him as more than a friend." Sakura shook her head and played with the remaining food on her plate for a bit.

"It's a shame that you don't like Sasuke-kun anymore. You could've had so many opportunities with him, being in the same team and all."

"It actually a pain in the ass."

"Sasuke-kun!?" Ino widened her eyes and spoke with a full mouth.

"Not Sasuke, not Naruto, but the dynamics between them. They... don't get along."

"Well, no wonder. Sasuke is the best shinobi from our class and he is so smart. On the other hand, Naruto is an idiot."

"Whatever it is they don't like about each other, they should stop acting like children and put it behind themselves when while working. Our missions this past month and a half have been a pain in the ass, since they can't seem to work as a team and keep on fighting about the smallest things. It's _really_ irritating." Sakura sighed.

"Damn it forehead, you sound like an older woman." Ino said and Sakura laughed at the irony. "Take things more easily, will you?"

"Well, whatever. I have to go back now; we have a team training session once again."

"Bye. Tell Sasuke I said hi!" Ino smiled as she wiggled her eyebrows and Sakura rolled her eyes as she left the restaurant.

When she got to the training ground, Sakura found that Sasuke was waiting on his own. He was sitting on the ground with his back leaning on a tree, his legs were bent and his forearms were resting on his knees. Sakura sat down next to him wordlessly but in a pleasant silence.

"I'm getting tired of doing D-ranked missions." Sakura said after a while.

"Shinobi shouldn't be doing that stuff." Sasuke scoffed. "It's ridiculous to have skilled people do things that don't even take their abilities into account."

"Well... at least we get to train with Kakashi-sensei." Sakura shrugged. She then felt Naruto's presence not far from them. Not long after, he appeared from behind a couple trees and waved at her.

"Sakura-chan!" he smiled and plopped himself down next to her.

"Hey, how was lunch?"

"Good! I missed you though." He threw a glare at Sasuke and then turned back to look at Sakura.

"I know." Sakura smiled nervously and eyes her both teammates, who were now pointedly ignoring each other. "I had an appointment with Ino and wouldn't ditch her again."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. So, do you have any idea what we're going to train on today?" He asked and Sakura shook her head in denial.

They sat there for a good fifteen more minutes – in a silence that was no longer comfortable - until Kakashi arrived. He poofed in front of them and waved in greeting, not even making up an excuse for being as little as fifteen minutes late. The older man looked at the three teens for a while and then sighed.

"So, today we're going to have a special kind of training; teamwork." The interested looks on his male students' faces immediately were replaced by irritation. "Sakura is doing great, but the two of you have not made any progress even after my multiple remarks. So, the aim of this exercise will be to strengthen Naruto's and Sasuke's teamwork. Sakura and I will have to protect a bell, like the ones you're already familiar with, and the two of you will have to take it from us. You better not believe that you'll be able to do it individually, because you _won't_. We will do this as long as we have to until you get the bell from us. We will stay here as long as we have to until the two of you work together. Now, you wait here for three minutes and then start looking for us."

The boys agreed without any enthusiasm and Sakura stood up, following Kakashi into the woods. The walked a couple steps in search for a good spot to use as a sort of fortress.

"What place do you think is suitable?" Kakashi glanced at the pinkette from the edge of his eye. He watched as she looked around with calculating eyes, until she pointed south.

"We should head to the rocky formation south of here. The direction of the wind would hide out scent and the sun light would be directed from the back of the rock to the opening place. It would slightly blind them and allow us to see more clearly. We could also hide the bell inside the small caverns or find a hiding spot for ourselves. Finally, one of us can climb up and get a panoramic view on the surrounding forest."

"Good, let's do that. I had already read your profile from the academy and knew you had always been outstanding when analyzing situation and understanding complex dynamics."

"Yeah." Sakura smiled.

"I have also noticed that you have gotten better in the other areas as well, including those that you had been awful at."

"Oh, that." Sakura said with disinterest, trying to hide her nervousness as much as possible; she had done her best to show her improvement in a believable slow enough manner. That had meant only showing a small portion of her true strength, which made it difficult for her to control. She just hoped that it had been enough. "I have been training during the afternoon and night and early in the morning."

"Oh. That seems like a lot. Is there a specific reason why?" Kakashi said and she suddenly felt worried. Was he suspicious?

"No, not really. I just decided to take my profession more seriously. If I don't train hard we may die out there."

"That's right." Kakashi raised a lone eyebrow at how mature the little girl next to him sounded.

When they got to the spot, Sakura set up a couple booby traps around it and Kakashi hid the bell in a small cavern. She settled on the upper part of the rocky formation and Kakashi at the foot. Not long after, Sakura spotted her two teammates approaching cautiously. They were assessing their surroundings and deciding how to enter the clearing without setting any bobby traps that might've put there. Both circled the open front of the spot from opposite sides and Sakura signaled Kakashi where they were and he nodded once.

Suddenly, at least a dozen of Naruto shadow clones appeared on the clearing. Five of them went for Sakura and started attacking her. The rest went for Kakashi, along with Sasuke. Sakura skillfully kicked and punched every clone square in the face as they got to her guarding spot, dispelling all of them in ten seconds. When she looked she looked down, she saw that Kakashi had Naruto tied up and Sasuke on a lock hold.

 _Figures_.

Sakura jumped down the seven meter high rock and swiftly landed next to Kakashi. She crouched next to Sasuke and Naruto and smiled.

"Well... I didn't think you would do it the first time. You have to think of a better strategy."

"Tch." Sasuke broke out of Kakashi's hold and walked to Naruto to cut the ropes. "Come on."

Both males walked away once again to think of a different approach. Sakura sighed and looked at Kakashi with a small smirk.

"You do know that there are almost zero chances that they will get the bell, right?"

"Of course. But I don't need them winning; I just need them to work as a duo."

And so, a repetitive struggle of the two boys started. At first, their attempts were lame and clearly not well talked through. Sakura was certain that it didn't mean lack of ability, but lack of communication. They had probably started out defining a plan in only a couple seconds and exchanging only a few words. Also, whenever they failed they would slightly glare at the other one. After fifteen attempts and over two hours, their attacks became much more coordinated. They also took longer to come back and try again, which meant that they were actually discussing things through for real. It was almost funny though, seeing Sasuke's calculating and traditional ideas working together with Naruto's unpredictable and weird ones. Sakura really was thankful that Kakashi had stepped in, since they probably would've taken much longer to work together if they hadn't been forced to - something _she_ didn't have the authority to do. They still didn't seem friends or rivals, but every time they went back to think a different strategy they wouldn't glare at each other anymore.

"All right." Kakashi said with a smile and stopped the two boys from leaving once again. He stared down at the boys sitting on the ground in front of him. "I believe that, after almost four hours of work, you two have kind of stepped closer to what teamwork should be like. I think that you still need to work on your communication though. What do _you_ think, boys?"

"Well, I guess he was not _that_ bad to work with. He's still a bastard though." Naruto sighed.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded, agreeing with the blonde.

Sakura watched them with slight relief; they definitely didn't have their previous spark yet, but they did seem more civil with each other. Sakura still was certain that their bond was nowhere near what it had been at this point on her previous life. They still seemed uncomfortable around each other, but at least they weren't on each other's throats. Maybe they would catch up to their previous friendship in some time. Maybe they wouldn't. Maybe if things changed for real it wouldn't be that bad as long as their teamwork functioned.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. Wanna grab something to eat?" Naruto asked as he stood up and dusted his orange pants.

"Oh.. I'm supposed to train with Sasuke now... do you want to stay?"

"Sorry, I'm starving." His answer was followed by his stomach's grumble.

"I can tell." Sakura laughed. "How about tomorrow lunch?"

"Ok, see ya!" Naruto left the two other sitting shinobi with a smile and a wave.

Kakashi bid them goodbye as well and left in a poof of smoke. Thankfully, Naruto didn't seem bothered by the fact that Sakura was spending time with Sasuke instead of him anymore.

Sakura looked up at the sky and noticed that it was a beautiful red and purple near the horizon and, up above them, the sky was clear and filled with stars. It was such a beautiful sight, that Sakura leaned back to lie on the ground and stare up with more ease. She stayed like that for at least a minute and suddenly heard Sasuke shift next to her. At first, she thought that he would ask to train, but she was surprised when she heard Sasuke's back hit the ground as well. Sakura turned to look him with curiosity, since he had never acted so carefree around her. Of course they were more at ease around each other than when they'd started training together. Their relationship had become much more polite and one could say that they were acquaintances now. The black haired boy even talked to her now – not much though, he wasn't a different person after all. Sasuke was lying less than a meter away from her, so Sakura could see the dusk light up his face. It made his eyes appear an even deeper shade of obsidian and a soft wind was slightly blowing his bangs up. His face was relaxed into an expression that she had never seen on him.

"It's a great view. I always used to watch the night sky when I was feeling lonely." Sakura spoke after a while.

"I haven't done this in years." Sasuke commented honestly. "What do you mean you used to?"

"Oh well, it's been long time ago for me too. I haven't really found the time anymore." Sakura mumbled. _Ever since the war started..._

Sasuke said nothing, but didn't make a move to stand up. They stayed like that for minutes, the comfortable silence easing Sakura's mind and the chilly night air forming goose bumps on her skin.

"I'm glad that you're on good terms with Naruto now. Being with you all day long was getting really tiring."

"I don't know if ' _good terms'_ is the word you're looking for." Sasuke sneered. "But at least now I don't feel like snapping his neck whenever I'm around him."

"Oh." Sakura almost cringed at that. "Well... maybe he should've stayed to train with us today. We could make something out of that, right?"

"I don't know about that." Sasuke said, still looking up to the stars.

"What do you mean?" Sakura frowned slightly, fearing the he was still reluctant to work with Naruto, and turned to look at his face once again.

"The dobe's not a bad person, but he lacks skills and wouldn't really push me to go further. You, on the other hand, are a good training partner." Sasuke said calmly. "I'm fine training just with you."

Sakura felt the words get caught up in her throat and her face get hotter. She knew that Sasuke's words had no ulterior motive and that he had simply states that she was a better training partner. However, the thought of him wanting to spend alone time with her shocked her. Sakura should've looked away at that moment, but Sasuke's relaxed face had caught her in a sort of daze. He must've realized that her silence meant something was up, because he tiled his head sideways, coming face to face with her. He obviously couldn't miss it from such a small distance; her mouth was slightly agape and her cheeks and ear were as red as her old qipao dress.

"Sakura, are you blushing?" Sasuke said and lifted an eyebrow, his expression as impassive as always.

It was only then that Sakura realized that she had been caught red-handed and she sharply turned her head around to face away from him. She felt her heartbeat go faster and bit her lip hard, almost drawing blood. Had she fucked up? Would Sasuke think that she had used to be a fangirl? Would he want nothing to do with her anymore? Thankfully, her catastrophic thoughts were forgotten when she heard him chuckle. Yes, chuckle. _The_ Uchiha Sasuke had actually chuckled and _not_ in a cruel way.

"What?" Sakura demanded as turned to look at him and willed her blush to subside in vain.

"I didn't take you for a shy person."

"I-I'm not!" Sakura sat up abruptly and shook her head, finally managing to erase her blush. "Whatever, let's just start training."

Sakura quickly got up and walked away from the Uchiha in an annoyed manner, only turning around to face him when she was far away for the spar to begin. She looked calm on the outside, but in reality she was panicking; Sasuke had her caught her blushing and staring at him. Again, she _had_ to get a grip on her emotions.

\- time skip -

Sakura was glad that she had been training with Sasuke. It had helped her become comfortable around him and he now was also clearly more at ease. They weren't exactly friends, or any of the sorts, but she was grateful. However, her training sessions with him didn't allow her to push her abilities much further. So, every morning after training with Sasuke for three or so hours and sleeping for around seven, Sakura trained for a couple more hours by herself. If it weren't for her medical ninjustsu, her body wouldn't have been able to keep up; it was a monster agenda, even worse than her own shishou's had been.

Also, after five days of recently acquired teamwork, Sakura felt much more rested. The emotional strain that had meant spending all day with two bickering teenagers had almost made her lose her mind. She had now been thinking of a way for them to get a little closer, but she was out of ideas. She had in vain tried to get them to train together or eat out together, because _every time_ she suggested something along those lines, they would always find something else to do. They didn't fight anymore, but they blatantly ignored each other and only talked if absolutely necessary.

That particular morning though, Sakura woke up more worried about the teamwork issue than usual; if her assumptions were right and her memory wasn't failing her, this would be the day in which the Wave Country mission would be assigned to them. It was a bid step ahead for them. Naruto would make a vow that would influence his whole life as a shinobi and he would unleash the Nine-tail's chakra for the first time. On the other hand, Sasuke was going to awaken his sharingan. Because of this, as Team 7 stood in the Hokage's office, Sakura had to tighten her hands a bit to avoid nervously fidgeting on the hem of her shirt.

"All right. There are a bunch of D-ranked missions available; weeding a garden, babysitting children, helping out at the local market, finding Tora again. You can choose one for today."

Sakura looked at Naruto, waiting for him to complain about how boring their missions were. But, even though he cringed at the possibilities the Hokage had given them, he said not one word. Sakura waited and waited for the expected interruption from the blond, but it never came. Her team simply talked about what mission to choose but didn't say anything else. The Hokage was about to sign their new D-ranked mission when Sakura spoke, deciding that that mission could under no circumstance be allowed to slip away.

"Please wait, Hokage-sama." She bowed lowly and then looked up again. "Please sign us up for a more difficult mission. We're not getting any experience from the D-ranked ones and we are good enough to complete a higher level mission."

"Yeah!" Naruto added enthusiastically and punched the air. "We'll show you, jii-chan!"

"Hn." Sasuke agreed with a single nod.

"Hmmm... what do you think Kakashi?" The old man questioned.

"They are strong and their teamwork is getting better. I think they are more than capable of taking on a C-rank."

"All right, I'll assign you to a body guarding mission. Tazuna-san, please step in." The Hokage called and a door to their left opened.

"Ahhh? Are these brats going to escort me?" A middle aged man smelling like strong alcohol - Tazuna - entered the Hokage's office. "They look pretty weak, especially the idiot looking short one."

"Hah! Who's the short one?" Naruto snickered and looked at his teammate, noticing that he was indeed the short one. "I'll demolish you!"

Kakashi had to hold his student back with a sigh. "Naruto, we're supposed to protect the client, not attack him."

Naruto finally decided to step back and glanced at Tazuna in an annoyed manner. They decided to meet at the gates in an hour, so that each one of them could gather their necessities for the travel. They would be away for at least a week, so they had a lot of packing to do.

Sakura took out her travel pack and put in enough clothes to last for over a week, some medical supplies, weapons, money and a bit of food for their travel. When she was done she walked down and found her father in the living room. She told him that she was going away on a longer mission and that wouldn't be back for a week or two. He glanced at her with worry – her parents still hadn't warmed to the idea of his daughter being a kunoichi – but she eased his worries, telling him that it was a low level mission and they would only have to fight thugs or bandits. His father finally sighed in surrender and bid her goodbye, to which she left with a smile.

As Sakura walked to the village gates, she couldn't help but disagree with her own previous words to her father. She herself was worried. Their dynamics were nowhere near what they had been and she could only wonder how it would affect the upcoming events.

 **A/N: All right! There goes the next chapter! I would like to know if Sasuke seems a little OOC for you. I wanted to make him a little more open than previously, seeing that he didn't dislike Sakura anymore and that he also didn't see her as a rival.**

 **Also… the mission to Wave Country is starting! Uhhhh- if you have any input or ideas for this one let me know. (I have an overall guideline of what I'll write, but I'm open to any suggestions)**

 **Thank you all for reviewing and following!** **(Uchiha Misaki, Paula Abelenda, dooligan, animegeek27, NarutoXHonoka, Deathparade2810, multipass22).**


	7. Wave Mission I

**CHAPTER 7**

The trees' leaves were a bright green and the afternoon summer sun would've been too hot if it weren't for the shade provided by the tall crowns. The birds and some other animals were the only living things making any sound in the forest – besides the travelers' footsteps. After a while of Naruto's enthusiasm had faded away and Kakashi had managed to ease Tazuna's reluctance, the five of them had gotten into an easy silence. They had been travelling towards the Wave Country for almost six hours now and, if Sakura recalled correctly, they were soon going to be ambushed. Her good memory wasn't genius, so she didn't exactly remember how it had happened. In her mind, it had been over six years ago, so she hadn't really expected to.

After a while, Sakura noticed something ahead of her; it was a puddle of water in the middle of the road. There were no rivers nearby and it hadn't rained in months, so she was cautious of it. As they neared it, Sakura discretely glanced towards Kakashi who was now walking next to her on the back of the group. She saw that he was watching it from the edge of his eye as well and sharpened her senses. They had only taken some steps away from the water, when two presences suddenly became apparent to her.

Sakura sharply turned around to watch as two adult shinobi in cloaks launched an attack at her and her sensei. Sakura allowed her developed instincts to take control and swiftly jumped towards where the rest of the group was standing. Naruto's widened in terror when the two foreign shinobi caught Kakashi with strong chains and _tore_ his flesh apart. Sasuke seemed shocked as well, but he immediately got over it when an attack was aimed at Naruto. Sasuke jumped high into the air and threw a shuriken and a kunai, effectively attaching the chain to a tree trunk. He landed on the shinobi's arms and simultaneously kicked both of them in the face. Sakura smirked; even as a genin, Sasuke was strong enough to stand his ground against two chuunin.

The two enemies released their hold on the chain and ran at full speed, circling around Sasuke. One of them was going straight to Naruto and the other one was going towards her. Sakura's mind sped up as she thought of a plan. She couldn't reveal much of her real abilities – not in this situation at least – but she also wasn't supposed to stay frozen there. She was supposed to be stronger now in the eyes of her team. In just a second she had made a decision and she launched at the nearing shinobi. When she was just about to be slashed by his iron claws, she ducked and swooped between his feet and grabbed his ankles. She channeled a bit of chakra into her arms and yanked him backwards. He landed in front of her with a small grunt, but Sakura pulled his legs once again. This time, she swirled him up into the air above her and slammed him onto the ground with full force. The poor guy gasped as the air was forced out of his lungs and probably cracked a rib or two. Sakura went behind him and put a kunai to his throat, effectively immobilizing him.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried and ran towards her. She looked back and saw that the other shinobi had been caught by Kakashi, just like last time. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I am." Sakura nodded.

"You were awesome!" Naruto patted her on the shoulder.

"Good job, Sakura, Sasuke. You were better than I expected you to." Kakashi praised. Naruto tensed next to Sakura and he bit his lip in frustration; he had been completely frozen all along. He was brought back from his despair by his sensei once again. "Naruto, that claws were imbedded with poison and someone must open your wound to take it out. You shouldn't move too much for now, or it could spread through your body."

Naruto's eyes widened in fear and he looked down at his hand with a furrowed eyebrow. Kakashi, in the meantime, questioned the two foreign shinobis and Tazuna. They all found out what Sakura had known all along; Tazuna should've requested a higher ranked mission since he was being followed by shinobi. Kakashi finished saying that they should go back, so that Tazuna could hire higher ranked shinobi and so that some took the poison out of Naruto's wound.

Naruto suddenly turned around, his body tense, and lodged the kunai into the wound of his hand. It started bleeding and prevented the poison from entering his bloodstream. He then promised that he would never run away or back down from any mission, threat, or enemy and that he would never lose to Sasuke. Kakashi mentioned that he would bleed to death if he didn't treat the wound on his hand. Sakura inwardly chuckled at this; Kakashi was _such_ a bully. No one would ever die from such a wound, but it was good that he had somehow put some sense into Naruto.

"Come here, Naruto. I've learned a thing or two about medical ninjutsu." She sat down on the ground and signaled for him to sit in front of her.

Naruto complied without another word and held his hand in front of her. Sakura pulled out some medical supplied from her bag and proceeded to clean and heal his wound with her chakra. She knew that he didn't truly need any medical attention since he had the Kyuubi inside of him. Nonetheless, he didn't know that and having someone treat him would ease his worries. She noticed Kakashi intently studying her procedure, so she tried to fake some struggle and took a longer time than she normally would have.

When Sakura finished treating his wound, they realized that it was almost dawn. So they decided to find a place to camp and ended up settling on a small clearing that was well guarded by trees. Sasuke set up some booby traps around them while Kakashi stayed with Tazuna and built a fire. Sakura and Naruto headed towards the river to get some fished for dinner. Sakura took of her ninja sandals and rolled her leggings up to her mid-thigh before stepping into the shallow water. She bent her body a bit and waited for the preys to come and meet her kunai.

"I'm felt so useless back then." Naruto confided in her at last. "You and Sasuke were great and reacted immediately. You actually _beat_ those chuunins. On the other hand, I just stood there frozen like an idiot."

"Don't punish yourself, Naruto." Sakura said as she stabbed another fish and threw it to the riverbank. "I'm certain that you are courageous and have great potential, you just have to believe it too. I'll tell you what. Next time we face an enemy, you and I will work together. I'm sure that we will be victorious."

"All right, Sakura-chan!" Naruto smirked and pointed at himself. "If you believe in me I _have_ to believe in myself too. We'll definitely do it!"

Sakura laughed and then stepped out of the water, deciding that they had enough fish for the whole group. They walked back to the clearing and set the fish on stick around the fire. As they waited and ate, Kakashi told them about the political dynamics of the different countries. Sakura also put in a bit of her own contribution, always making sure first that whatever she was going to say had already happened and was open knowledge. When they finished eating up they went to sleep and decided on guard duty. The order would be Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke.

Sakura was shaken awake and she rubbed her eyes for a moment. She opened them and saw that Kakashi was standing next to her sleeping bag. She stood up and put on something warmer. Sakura sat down on a log next to where the fire had been on hours ago.

"Sakura." Kakashi said and she turned around to let him know she was listening. "You sure know a lot about politics and economy. I didn't expect a thirteen year old to know such things."

"Oh, well. I actually enjoy reading about it. Sometimes I head towards the library and read about history and such." Sakura smiled at her sensei, successfully hiding her discomfort at his question. Of course she knew a lot; not only had she been the Hokage's apprentice, but she also was almost nineteen in reality.

"That's good. When you become a higher level kunoichi it will definitely be useful." He said as he got into his sleeping back. "Night."

"Night, sensei." Sakura said and moved to stare back ahead.

Sakura was actually aware so much more than she ever planned to let Kakashi know. She knew about the secrets of Konoha and the Fire Country. How shaky the relationships with the other shinobi countries actually were. She knew all about Danzo and Root. His not at all smooth relationship with Hiruzen Sarutobi. She knew about the historic problems that the Senju had had with the Uchiha Clan. How it had ended up in a massacre, which had been assigned to Itachi as a mission. Sakura sighed and massaged her temples. How was she going to prevent Sasuke from killing Itachi _and_ becoming Konoha's enemy? How could she bring justice to the older Uchiha without destroying the village's shaky balance on the brink of war? How could she even pretend to do any of this without explaining that she was from the future and possibly screwing up Sasuke's future?

In the end, she had to focus on the events that would occur sooner. Would Sasuke and Naruto build a stronger bond? Would she be able to prevent Sasuke from getting the cursed mark? If Sasuke did get it and left the village, it would set a much easier path for her to prevent the upcoming war. However, she would forever blame herself for knowing his upcoming change and not doing anything for him. Would Orochimaru stop trying to find Sasuke if she succeeded in preventing him from giving Sasuke the cursed mark in the Forest of Death? Would he choose to stay in the village if that was the case or would he leave and become a rouge nin anyways?

If the war didn't happen in the future – something she would have to make sure of - and he still left Konoha, there would be no way for him to redeem himself and he would be forever despised. Forever a missing nin with the only aim to kill his brother, who actually had been looking after him all along.

Sakura stood there for two hours, practically trapped in her worries and trying to pay attention to her surroundings. When her shift ended, Sakura got up and walked to where the sleeping bags had been set. Naruto was softly snoring and completely sprawled on the ground with half his body exposed to the cold. She chuckled and slightly covered his legs so that he wouldn't be cold – not that it would affect the Kyuubi container in any way. Sakura then turned to look at Sasuke, who was lying still on the ground with a tranquil expression on his face and breathing evenly. He looked so innocent like that, the image strongly contrasting with her memories of the Sasuke she had known. Sakura crouched next to him and stared at his face for a moment longer, taking advantage of the fact that everyone was asleep. Suddenly, Sasuke frowned and shifted nervously in his sleep. His breathing became ragged and his expression became frightened. He was having a nightmare. Sakura had to fight the urge to caress his face and help him relax, knowing that it would definitely overstep the unspoken boundaries between them. Instead, she put her hand on his arm and shook him awake.

"Sasuke." She called and he abruptly opened his eyes, looking around with slight confusion. When he saw Sakura in front of him he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

"My turn?" he asked in a raspy voice and Sakura nodded once.

He sat up and put on a dark blue pullover. Sakura watched him for a moment with a sad look in her eyes. Sasuke must've been dealing with nightmares by himself since he was only eight. It was heartbreaking that a child had been put through so much at such a tender age and if it had been up to Sakura, she would've put a shinobi adult in charge of him. Maybe it was not too late to help him go through it. As Sasuke sat down on the log, Sakura carefully approached him.

"Hey. You were having a nightmare. Are you all right?" she tentatively asked, fearing that he would be annoyed that she was prying into his business. He nodded once, but didn't say anything else with his eyes locked ahead of him and into the forest. "If you ever want to talk about it to someone…"

Sakura trailed off and he nodded once, but then didn't make any other movement. At first she was hopeful that he would tell her something about it. _Anything_. But when the silence stretched for over a minute she sighed. Of course he wouldn't tell her anything. Sasuke had never been open with his feelings to anyone but Naruto, and even then he had only ever been while fighting the blonde to the death. She turned around and walked to her sleeping bag in silence. Neither said a word or made a move to interact with one another as she pulled the zipper up and closed her eyes. At first, Sakura's mind was troubled at the thought of Sasuke handling a burden as strong as his on his own. But, eventually, she managed to fall asleep once again.

The next day, they set off at 8 am sharp to make sure that they arrived to Tazuna's home village before the noon sun was too hot. They got into a canoe and crossed a big river. The fog surrounding them was so think that they barely anything could be seen ahead. It also meant they it would be almost impossible for anyone else to see them, which was exactly what Tazuna was after. As they silently moved across the water, Tazuna explained to them how Gato had his small village under his thumb and had become a tyrant. Everyone in the village had succumbed to poverty and therefore they couldn't pay for a higher ranked mission. The bridge Tazuna was building would completely turn the situation around and Gato would lose most of his influence. Of course his life was in danger; the transporter not only powerful and rich, he also was widely known as a greedy and cruel man.

The canoe went through a tube under a hill and, when they got out at the other end, the mist was gone. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was shining on the vigorous flora, most of which consisted in trees that were growing _on_ the water. I really did look like a postal card. They got off the boat and waved the boater good-bye, who wished them luck and left. The group set off and soon was walking through a forest. Suddenly, Naruto turned to the left and threw his kunai at a bush, making everyone tense up. Kakashi walked to where the blonde had aimed and crouched in front of a tree. There was a small white bunny cowering down against the tree and right under where Naruto's kunai had hit.

"Ohhhh, nooo!" Naruto ran at the small animal and held him up in worry. "I'm sorry, bunny! Are you all right?"

Sakura smiled a bit, knowing that she must've definitely given Naruto an earful in her previous life, but now thinking that he was actually innocent and _almost_ sweet. However, as soon as she further examined the small bunny for injuries, she noticed that it was a snow rabbit. That particular species only had white fur during the winter, but it was the middle of the summer. A _wild_ rabbit that had been living outdoors wouldn't be colored white, so something was definitely up. Sakura turned slightly around and watched Kakashi, who also had his guard up and was looking around with suspicion. Suddenly, the air became thick, making both Sakura and Kakashi squat in anticipation.

"DUCK!" Kakashi yelled just as a huge sword swirled cutting the air at an incredible speed. Everyone did as instructed and the blade of the huge weapon got stuck on a tree trunk on the other side of the forest gap.

When Naruto realized that there an enemy was standing in front of them, he moved to confront him. Thankfully, before he could make it further than a couple steps, Sakura took a hold of his hand. He turned around in confusion and Sakura shook her head and squeezed her hand, pleading him to stay back and not engage the man on his own.

Kakashi explained that Zabuza was on a whole other level, being an ex ANBU and an expert in silent assassination. He was now a missing nin and known as the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'. He ordered the rest of his team to protect to bridge builder and revealed his sharingan. Sakura noticed how Sasuke tensed, shocked at the revelation and probably suspicious about Kakashi. Zabuza used a jutsu that created a thick mist around them, much like the one that had been covering the river previously.

"Wh-what is this?" Naruto whispered, his voice notoriously low due to caution.

"This jutsu allows him to hide in the fog and kill without a warning. Be careful." Kakashi said and looked around for a while, failing in trying to locate their enemy. He then made a hand sign and his chakra swirled around, clearing the mist around the whole group. Sasuke notoriously tensed next to Sakura and she held his hand tightly, trying to soothe him a bit. Of course that a jonin level killing intent would strong enough to terrify any genin – even Sasuke - and Sakura could only try to remember how she had felt the first time during that battle. Sasuke seemed to be brought out of his daze at the contact and he took a deep breath in.

"Don't worry." Kakashi's words were clear as he looked at them over his shoulder. "I will not allow my teammates to get hurt."

The upcoming events were the same as the last time around; Kakashi and Zabuza fought trying to fool each other with clones. When the silver haired jonin followed Zabuza into the water, he realized that it was not a regular lake. Unluckily, by the time had, it was already too late and was caught by caught in his water prison. Zabuza created a water clone and Kakashi ordered the rest of them to escape, saying that there was no way that they could ever win. Sasuke, being as smart as he was, pointed out that even though they tried to escape, they would eventually get caught. Sakura looked at her two male teammates with caution; they didn't seem to want to work together like last time. Instead, they were throwing glances her way, probably trying to figure out if she had a plan. Sakura knew that it was time for Naruto to gain some personal experience and confidence. She locked eyes with the blonde, who was on the opposite side of Sasuke, and they shared a knowing look. However, before Sakura could move, Sasuke hand tightened around her own to hold her in place.

"You can't possibly consider putting your life in the hands of that dobe." he whispered with a slight frown on his face.

"You will be surprised of what he can do." Sakura smirked at him.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto spoke up with enthusiasm.

"Let's go!" Sakura said and felt Sasuke's warm hand leave her own as she stepped forward. "Can you create 15 clones?"

"Believe it!" Naruto smirked and did as she said.

As Sasuke stayed in front of Tazuna, 10 Naruto clones attacked the water clone that Zabuza had cast. Each one of the clones grabbed on to the missing nin's arms, legs and torso with all of their might. The water clone took a couple seconds, but he managed to dispel all of them in one swift move. However, when it did, it realized that the other 7 Naruto's were aiming at the original Zabuza, who was still holding Kakashi's water prison in place.

Five clones that were running in front of the pack, launched at the missing nin, but he effortlessly cut though all of them with one strike. The second after he did, another Naruto came at him with full speed and he struck once again, but something unexpected happened. When his sword was supposed to cut through the clone, it caught - yes, caught - his sword with its bare hands. As blood started dripping down its hands, the clone poofed and, in its place, appeared the pink haired girl. She had an almost smug look in her face that made Zabuza want to crush her petite form. However, before he could think any more down that line, the original Naruto appeared on his other side, right between him and the water prison. The blond was jumping at him with a kunai in hand, aiming directly to his throat. Zabuza tried to yank his sword away from the girl's hold, but it was surprisingly iron strong. He cursed under his breath and jumped up in a circular motion above Sakura, landing on the other side of her. The movement had successfully forced her to let go of the huge sword, but had also forced Zabuza to free Kakashi from the water prison.

"Arrgh!" Zabuza growled in fury and slashed at the teens standing next to him. Sakura's eyes widened at the motion, because the trajectory of the sword would also get Naruto, who was barely getting to his feet. She knew that he might not be able to move away in time, so she jumped at him with full speed and pushed him back and down to the floor. Sakura felt the sharp blade slash just above her head just before both genin landed on the ground forcefully.

Sakura immediately twisted her body around to have the both of them roll away from the missing nin. They immediately got up and ran back to their previous spot where Sasuke and Tazuna were standing. When Sakura stood still, she noticed two things; the first one was that Kakashi had already engaged Zabuza in battle. The second one was that, for some reason, her previously tightly tied up long hair was on her face. She moved one of her hands up to brush her bangs away, but realized that her hair was now short. When Zabuza had slashed at her, he had missed her head, but had managed to cut her hair. Sakura lowly chuckled at the irony; it was almost as short as it had been on her previous life, a length that she had been planning on getting sometime soon.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said. "Are you all right?"

"It's only hair, Naruto. I was planning on cutting it anyways, since it sometimes gets in the way." Sakura shrugged.

"He means your hands, Sakura." Sasuke's deep voice spoke and she felt his warm hand take a hold on her own.

"Oh." Sakura was momentarily taken aback by the tenderness with which he had raised on of her injured hands. He was holding her palms up and was glancing down at them with a deep frown in his face. When she looked down at her injury she realized why they were worried. Her wound was bleeding profusely and her flesh had been cut all the way to the bone, cutting some of it, too. Only now that the high levels of adrenaline in her blood were lowering, the _sharp_ throbbing registered in her mind. Sakura was glad that her pain endurance had developed with the years, since a bone injury would normally render anyone unable to move from the pain. She forced her voice out and spoke with a slight tremble. "I'll heal it, no problem."

Sakura moved her hands away from Sasuke's, who threw her one last glance, before getting is attention caught in the fight once again. She put her hands together and healed her injuries in a matter of seconds, just in time before nausea settled. She was grateful that the battle between Kakashi and Zabuza was intense enough to pull everybody's concentration away from her developed skills. Just like last time, Kakashi had copied most of the missing nin's techniques and the latter became furious by that fact. Kakashi managed to get the upper hand in the battle and was about to deliver the finishing blow, when Zabuza was pierced with sendon in the neck by someone else. Everyone turned around to see a newly arrived Kirigakure hunter nin - Haku - who explained that he had been tailing Zabuza for a long time. He took the huge body off the ground, threw him over his shoulder with ease and took off. Kakashi then started heading towards where the rest of the group was standing, but his pace was more of a stumble. Sakura's trained medic eye caught his swaying before he collapsed and she was by his side just in time to hold him up and prevent him from getting a concussion or something. Naruto and Sasuke were immediately by their sensei's side, arguing to Sakura that she had to rest more than they did and taking the older man away from her hold. Tazuna immediately offered that they stayed back at his house, so they followed him there.

After setting Kakashi on a comfy bed, Naruto left to the bathroom in a hurry and Tazuna went looking for his daughter. So, once again, Sakura and Sasuke were all alone as they sat in their appointed room. Sakura, however, was absolutely sure that something was off. First of all, Sasuke was completely tense, which could be explained by the fact that this had been his first real battle experience. However, and secondly, he was _intentionally_ ignoring her and avoiding looking her way. Sakura looked at him, trying to get his attention, but didn't succeed. In the end, she decided to try anyways. They did kind of get along now, right?

"Sasuke." Sakura said, but he ignored her _purposefully_ and even slightly turned his head away from her. She moved her hand to hold his forearm softly, trying to lessen the distance between them. "Hey, if I did something wrong or-"

Sakura didn't get to finish her sentence, because Sasuke sharply jerked his arms away from her hold and stood up. He turned his head to look at her from over his shoulder with an annoyed expression and then left. Sakura was rendered speechless by his outburst. On one hand, he had never reacted like this to her on this timeline and it seemed completely out of character for him to be so impulsive. On the other hand, Sakura somehow felt mentally brought back to her old twelve year old self, the one filled with insecurities. His reaction at her had screamed annoyance and irritation and she could help but wonder if all the progress that she'd thought she'd made with him had gone to waste.

 **A/N: Hey, everyone! Here goes the first part of the Wave Mission. Please tell me if you like what I did with it and what you think of team 7's development. Do you have any thoughts on Sasuke's reaction on the last part?**

 **I want to thank everyone so much for reviewing, as always! Please let me know whatever it is you think of the chapter and the story.**


	8. Wave Mission II

**CHAPTER 8**

The night they'd arrived, everybody had gone to bed after putting Kakashi to sleep. The travel had been long and they were all tired from both walking and fighting. It had been decided that Kakashi would sleep on a room of his own so that he could properly recover and the three genin would share the other room. Sakura stayed awake for a while on the mattress, silently watching the sleeping Uchiha next to her as if his sleeping form would provide her with the answers that she sought about his sudden attitude. After an hour of restlessness, she finally managed to force her body into a light slumber. She felt Tsunami's presence before she heard her and sat up to meet just as she opened the door.

"Oh, Sakura. Were you awake?" the young woman asked and the pink-haired girl nodded. Sasuke quietly turned around to face the newcomer, who had obviously disrupted his sleep. "Good. I was planning on waking you anyways, because your sensei just woke up."

"That's good news. We were worried about him." Sakura feigned relief – she already knew he was all right - and moved out of her mattress. She picked up some fresh clothes and then turned to look at her blonde friend, who was still sleeping like a rock. "Naruto! Get up!"

Sakura allowed her eyes to stop on Sasuke for a moment and he met her gaze for a second or two, but then awkwardly averted his eyes. Sakura sighed and, after checking that Naruto was indeed waking up, left to change on the bathroom. It was disappointing that Sasuke was still ignoring her, since Sakura had assumed that his resentment would be forgotten by the next day. Apparently, whatever it was that was bothering him, it was not something irrelevant. Sakura decided to ask him about it when she had the chance, since she was just getting used to the newly acquired concord between her male teammates and she didn't want to have _more_ issues to deal with.

Kakashi was obviously overcome with chakra depletion; Sakura's expert medical eye could tell. His eyes were a bit sunken, his body was clearly weakened and his skin tone was even paler than usual. When he noticed his students and Tazuna walking into his bedroom, he struggled to sit up.

"Sensei, let me give you a hand." Sakura said and helped him sit up.

"Thank you. How are the three of you putting up?" Kakashi asked and received positive answers.

"What happened to you, sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"It was chakra depletion. I overused my sharingan in the fight against Zabuza and probably won't be able to move at 100% for five days or maybe even a week." Kakashi sighed at the implied meaning of that; they would have to stay there for another week.

"Well, at least that weird guy took care of Zabuza. Who was he anyways?" Naruto asked.

"It was a hunter nin. They are elite shinobi of the hidden villages that hunt down missing nin or KIA shinobi. Their work is very important, because if nobody takes care of them, special techniques or secrets of the village could be acquired by enemies."

"So, aren't hunter nins supposed to retrieve the rouge ones and take them for a trial or something?" Sakura asked, intentionally pushing the conversation into the right direction.

"No, most of the time hunter nins are assigned to criminals that have a death sentence upon them."

"I see." Sakura scratched her chin in 'thought'. "I wonder though. You know how I've been studying some medic ninjutsu, right? I've read that in order to kill with senbon, the user must be extremely qualified. What if that hunter nin missed the lethal spot?"

"Actually, hunter nins are meant to destroy the bodies of their targets. Now that you mention it, the way the events unfolded yesterday make me suspicious at the very least." Kakashi closed his eyes for a couple seconds. "Scratch that. I'm pretty sure that Zabuza is _alive_."

"What!" Naruto almost stood up from his sitting position at the statement.

"How could that be?" Sasuke frowned.

"He didn't dispose of Zabuza's body on the spot and even took him away. It's completely abnormal for a hunter nin to act like that, so we can safely assume that he was Zabuza's ally."

"But wasn't he dead already?" Naruto frowned.

"It's easy to fake somebody's dead with senbon, right Sakura?"

"Hai. As Kakashi-sensei says, senbon can be used to pierce certain spots on the body. If the user is greatly skilled and versed in acupuncture, he can do a great amount of things. He can either assassinate in a second or even stop heartbeat temporarily, without actually killing." Sakura said.

"So… this means that Zabuza will come after us again?" Tazuna frowned, certainly worried for his life.

"Yes, probably." Kakashi said. "But don't worry; he will probably be healed at around the same time as me, if not later. We will stay here until he comes back and defeat him, this time for sure."

"Thank goodness." Tazuna exhaled and bowed a bit. "Thank you, Kakashi-san."

"However, I won't do this by myself. Last time, I did in fact receive a bit of help from my team." Kakashi looked at his students and smiled a bit. "So, for the remaining days that we're here, I will train you."

"Okay! Let's go! I will learn it in no time, sensei!" Naruto cheered and Kakashi moved to stand up.

"Stop." Sakura said sternly and looked at her sensei almost harshly. "There's no way you can move around like this. Chakra depletion is not something to be taken _this_ lightly and you must stay in bed at least for today."

"Ahh, I almost forgot that we now have a medic on the team." Kakashi laughed jokingly, but Sakura knew him well enough and could tell that he was actually covering up for his uneasiness. She clearly remembered how much he had hated hospitals and had acted ridiculously just in order to avoid a doctor. Sakura simply stared back at him and crossed her arms in front of her to make a point, forcing Kakashi to give in. "All right… We will start training tomorrow morning."

When everybody left Kakashi to rest, Tazuna told the three genin about his immediate need to go to the bridge and supervise a specifically complex maneuver. They immediately offered to escort him there, and ended up spending all day out there and Tsunami and Inari even had to bring them lunch to their guarding post. The work was finished just before dawn and, by the time the three of them had gotten home, it was already dark. Sakura had been planning to talk to Sasuke that day, but hadn't gotten the chance and didn't press it since he didn't seem as bitter as the day before. When they finished having dinner, Sakura offered team 7 to wash the dishes – which got her disapproving glances from both boys. She tried to make them understand that it was common courtesy _and_ that Tazuna's family was not at all rich, so it was the least they could do given that they were being fed. The day ended just like that and, before Sakura could bat an eye, they had gone to sleep already.

The next day, Kakashi lead team seven out to a forest so that they could start their training. He explained to them the importance of chakra control and how it getting better at it would improve their overall abilities. He said that they would climb trees in order to do that and demonstrated it by walking up the tree trunk. When the three genins did as he showed them, Sakura was – once again – the best, followed by Sasuke and then Naruto. She looked down at her team from the top branch as Naruto and Kakashi praised her.

"Sakura-chan! You're the best!"

"Well, I must say I'm not at all surprised. Medical ninjutsu requires great chakra control, so I already assumed that you were good at it." Kakashi said. "What do you say about doing something more advanced?"

"Really?" Sakura's eyes widened a bit at that. In her previous life, Kakashi hadn't given her much attention – not that she blamed him though; she had only cared about Sasuke at the time and hadn't really put much effort into training. Sakura nodded at her sensei and stepped down of the trees as Kakashi led the way out of the clearing. She glanced at Sasuke from the corner of her eye, noting that he hadn't said a single word to her about her accomplishment. The two of them had been training together for months now and he had become open enough to point out both her strengths and weaknesses. If Sasuke hadn't even spared a glance at her, it had to mean that he was _still_ upset with her.

"Sakura?" Kakashi said and Sakura sharply turned to her sensei, realizing that she had been standing _and staring_ for a couple minutes, and scurried behind him. The older jonin stopped just after leaving the clearing and turned to Sakura. "All right. I assumed you've been working on your chakra control for a while, since you can already heal minor injuries with medic ninjutsu."

"Hai. As soon as I figured how important it was for healing I stared reading about how to improve it on my own."

"Ok. How far have you gotten?"

"Eh… let's see…" Sakura quickly assessed how much she should be able to do without raising suspicion and that allowed healing with chakra. "I can walk on water and can do needle and kunai standing on my fingertips."

"Oh? You have gotten really far for a genin. I'd even say that half chunnins have trouble with kunai standing. Impressive." Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Sakura tried to appear shy and scratched the back of her head. She just hoped that Kakashi wouldn't suspect anything, he was smart enough to. She could've chosen a different answer, but then he would've become _more_ suspicious, because it would've been obvious that she was hiding her abilities. It would be impossible to successfully perform any kind of medical ninjutsu without achieving at least those exercises. "Let's see… I think you should try so master sun block. Its aim is to use chakra to form a coat around your skin and protect it from sun radiation. I think it would be something different in your case, because it requires focusing charka on your whole body."

"I think I understand the concept… how will I know if it's working?"

"You will feel the sun with much less force on your skin as you improve." Kakashi said and Sakura nodded. "I'll go check on the boys. We don't want them making any trouble, do we? Come find me if you need any help."

When Sakura was alone once again, she sighed and sat down on a sunny spot. Of course, Tsunade had made sure to train Sakura in the whole art of chakra control, so Sakura had already done this. However, she hadn't _mastered_ it, since as a medical shinobi she usually needed her chakra to focus on her hands only. This time around, the sun wouldn't be able to touch or heat her skin.

Sakura trained on her own for the whole day and the next one. By the end of the second day on training, Sakura had already mastered sun blocking. It had been a quick improvement, especially considering that mastering a technique took much longer than learning the basics. Sakura didn't really expect any less of herself; if there was something that she'd always prided herself on, it was her natural ability at chakra control. When she decided that she was done, she headed back to the clearing to meet the boys.

"Ahhh!" Naruto screamed and cut the tree trunk as Sakura entered the clearing. She looked at both their progress and noted that Naruto was behind Sasuke. It was to be predicted though; Sasuke had been training chakra control with her for a month now. "Sakura-chan!"

"Hey." Sakura smiled at the smiling blonde. "How are you guys doing?"

"Well… I've been trying to improve… but's it's not as easy as it seems." Naruto sighed and crossed his arms in front of him, a slight pout forming on his face. "Will you give me some advice?"

"No problem!" Sakura beamed at him and then turned to Sasuke. "Eh… Sasuke. Do you want some advice too?" she said looking at the boy's back, but he didn't even acknowledge her.

"What's the bastard's problem?" Naruto whispered leaning into her and frowned.

"I don't know." She whispered back.

Sakura's eyes softened for a moment but then decided to put it all behind her. She her advice to Naruto on a loud enough voice for Sasuke to hear. She acted as if she was oblivious, but she could _tell_ that he was eavesdropping on her explanation. He had stood still as she spoke and, when she was finished, he launched at the tree again and got distinctly higher this time. Sakura couldn't suppress the smirk that pulled her lips up; Sasuke was _such_ a proud person. Seeing him act like this over such nonsense made a sort of tenderness build in her chest.

The next afternoon, Tazuna's house received terrible news; another one of Tazuna's workers had decided to quit. They were all too scared of Gato's influence and cruelty, so they were dropping off little by little. Sakura couldn't blame them though; most of them had families and couldn't risk the tyrant taking revenge on their wives or children. When the worker left the house, the mood had completely shifted from tranquility to gloominess. It was obvious that every family member was worried that the bridge would never be completed and the sentiment flowed out to the atmosphere. Suddenly Tsunami's eyes widened and she brought her hands to cup her face.

"Oh, dear! I forgot I needed to go the marked today." Tsunami said and started moving around in a hurried manner, trying to gather whatever she needed to go.

"Tsunami-san." Sakura walked up to her. "Please let us go in your stead."

"How could I? You're my guests!"

"Yes, and you've been treating us with great hospitality. Apart from working real hard on that, you've been through a lot today. Please get some rest and let us handle grocery shopping for today." Sakura smiled at her.

Of course, the young woman couldn't refuse her offer once again, and so Team 7 – minus Kakashi, who was still recovering – left towards the city market. None of them had really seen the local situation before, since Tazuna lived in the outskirts of the city. So, as they walked down the commercial streets of the downtown, the three of them were shocked by the poverty that those people were living in. Half the population's clothing were nothing more than rags, which were not only torn but dirty as well. At least three quarters of the people they came across were skinny, many of them borderline famished and starved. Some children were so underfed, that their collarbones were unnaturally pronounced and their legs were so thin that it was a wonder how they could support the weight of their bodies – not that it was much though. They walked around asking for any piece of bread or whatever could be offered to them. Sakura didn't remember what her reaction had been the first time, but now all she could do was wordlessly give them all of her money, knowing that they needed it much more than she did. She was thankful that she had left most of her savings back at the house, or she would've given everything away. As she gave everything she had away to the small children, she felt her eyes glued to their hollow orbs as they passed by. Sakura, not only as a medic, but as a sensible person, felt terribly distressed at the sight. She was used to death on the battlefield and used the seeing shinobi bleeding to the death. However, seeing innocent souls going through the slow torture of starvation would hit a nerve in her _every time_.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto brought her out of her thoughts. "Did you hear me? Over there is a green vegetable stand."

"Oh. Right." Sakura said. It's not that her male teammates were _heartless_ – because she could see the sadness in their eyes as they watched the skinny people pass by – but they had quickly recovered from the initial shock. So, she decided to quickly hand the money and the grocery list to Sasuke. "Please."

He wordlessly looked into her eyes for a couple seconds and finally nodded before receiving the items. Sasuke was not a person of many words and was more a person of gestures and meaningful glances. Sakura knew that Sasuke was a sensible person – no matter how much he had tried to prove otherwise in her previous life – and that he would understand her quiet request. Sasuke took care of everything when buying the needed items, and Sakura was glad that he did. He even told Naruto to be quiet when he kept bugging her about which vegetables to pick. Those small gestures alone meant more to Sakura than the raven haired boy would ever know. After being shaken out of her mind by the sight, Sasuke's unexpected and modest kindness had filled her war-torn heart with warmth.

Finally, after an hour of walking around and buying the listed items, they got back to the house. Tsunami thanked them profusely for doing her errands and started making dinner. Sakura decided to help her out – she really needed to keep her mind from going back to what she'd seen earlier that day. They all ate dinner with some quiet conversation – mostly Naruto's – and thanked for the food. Sakura stood up to help Tsunami out, but stopped when she came across a picture that stood on a side table on the dining room. She clearly remembered _this_ one from her previous life; it was a family portrait from back when-

"Hey, Tazuna-san!" Naruto's loud voice echoed from behind her. "Why is this picture torn? It's weird, because the only torn part is somebody's face."

The air tensed and Tazuna explained that the person in the picture was Inari's deceased step-father, who had once been a hero in the village. Inari had been heartbroken after his death and didn't believe anymore that heroes existed. Inari ran out of the room wordlessly, with Tsunami quickly following behind him. Naruto stood up from his chair with determination and swore that he would prove Inari that heroes _did_ exist. After that statement he pumped his fist and stormed out the door.

"Well, I can't say I didn't predict this." Kakashi sweat dropped.

"Me neither." Sakura nodded.

"Hn."

"You two should go to sleep soon, remember that tomorrow we're training once again at 7 sharp." Kakashi said and waved his two students good-bye.

Sakura went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and got ready for bed. When she was ready, she headed towards the room that the three genin were sharing and opened the door. She was startled by the fact that only Sasuke was there and Naruto was gone. It _had_ been obvious, but she hadn't taken into account that she would share a room only with _him_. Together. It was not as if they hadn't slept close to eachother before - because they had – but sharing a _room_ with him alone was somehow different. Sakura realized that she had stood still by the closed door and had been staring at her mattress and Sasuke's back and forth. Her eyes slowly trailed towards Sasuke, who was sitting on his bed, hoping that he didn't notice her weird behavior. To her embarrassment, he was looking right at her when she met his eyes and she could've sworn that he smirked almost imperceptibly.

"I'm not Kakashi nor Naruto." Sasuke reassured her with a straight voice and then laid down, turned his back to her and covered himself.

Sakura felt a blush build on her cheeks as she walked to her mattress. The fact that Sasuke had noted her thoughts on such a matter made her feel truly self-conscious. Thankfully, Sasuke was a serious and reliable guy – for now that is – and wouldn't do anything impulsive. Actually, scratch the 'thankfully' part. For a moment, and as Sakura laid with her back towards Sasuke, she wished that he was just the opposite of that. That he was just as much of a pervert as she and the rest of the team was. Sakura had to physically smack herself when Icha-Icha Paradise scenes that were similar to her situation started playing in her head. She closed her eyes hoping that her dreams wouldn't go _that_ way when the object of her thoughts was sleeping right next to her. Sadly for her, that option would've been better.

 _Sakura looked around at the shadowed surroundings. If it were up to her, she would assess this night as – not the darkest – but the brightest ever. Sadly and even though it sounded pretty, it was not. The sky was completely covered by smoke as far as the eye could see, effectively covering the stars and the moon above her. Everything around her was on fire, and the light emitted from the flames was reflecting on the smoke above with such force, that it almost seemed like daytime. Sakura jumped aside once again, dodging a burning tree which had fallen her way. Her gasps were getting too sharp and too strained due to the thick smoke that she'd been breathing for hours, for weeks. Her sharp abilities as a sensor – earned through the hardships of war – were trying to persuade her of going further. They were screaming at her that she better go back, that she would only hurt herself by moving forward. That she would find no one alive, once again. That she would be too late._

" _Hmp!" Sakura groaned as she avoided getting crushed by yet another tree._

 _Sakura knew that she should've turned back, but her emotional side couldn't let go of the slight hope to which she still hung to. She had to make sure that she'd done all she could before breaking down once again. Finally and from behind the burning trees and the smoke, a small village came into view. Instead of feeling relieved, Sakura's adrenaline went even higher and she felt panic surge through her. Her chakra senses once again screamed at her that there was not a living soul in there._

 _The small village must've been the home of around 600 people, and it was just like all the ones she'd found these last months – the big cities and villages had been wiped out first of all and these were all that were left. In this one though, all that remained was the wrecked walls of what she guessed used to be houses. The streets were a mess and Sakura could tell that it was not only due to the attack of the ten tails and the fire, but also caused by human action. The attack of the ten tailed beast had fucked everything up so deeply, that even neighbors had turned on each other when trying to get a hold on whatever water or food they could._

 _Sakura had been walking around for at least ten minutes, trying to find anyone that was still alive, even if barely. What good were her medical abilities, when everywhere she came across was packed only by corpses? All she could see around her were bodies that were either grotesquely burnt or covered by blood. Every now and then, Sakura would come across a person that had died from starvation instead of an attack. Those were the ones she was sorry for the most; she'd always heard about how terrible the pains of starvation were, but she'd only learnt the real magnitude of it when she felt it herself. These people had probably suffered for months before dying. Sakura was suddenly brought out of her thoughts by a heart-breaking sight._

" _Oh god." She mumbled between gasps and fell to her knees._

 _Her trembling hands picked up the tiniest and lightest being she'd ever held. It was the body of small baby – probably not older than a month or two – which had clearly died of inanition not too long ago. Sakura decided that it must've died a day ago, because its skin was still intact – with a bluish color though. She little thing was so incredibly thin, that Sakura guesses that it must've weighted not much more than a kilogram, meaning that the weight she was holding up was mostly bones. Sakura knew that babies always had big eyes, because they grew only a little throughout life. However, this particular one's looked incredibly big – due to the lost fat on its face - and made him or her appear much more vulnerable. He also looked so much older. It was… like a baby elder. It was terrifying and incredibly sad at the same time._

 _Sakura looked down at the blood covered ground as a shiver went up her spine and her eyes were filled with tears once again. When she looked back at the baby in her hands, she was frozen in her spot. The baby's eyes, now wide instead of lidded, had trailed towards her form and were staring right into her own. It was staring at her with quiet resentment; upset about being allowed to die when someone must've been caring for it. Sakura felt her hands shake as she held the little bundle, unable to let go and allow it to fall on the ground. The baby must've felt her fear, because its expression became furious and it opened its mouth, a loud and high pitched screech come out of it._

"AH!" Sakura sat up abruptly and clutched the spot where her heart was beating at an unhealthy fast rate. Her whole body was drenched in sweat and she had to close her eyes for a second.

She looked around frantically and, through her angst, managed to note two things. First of all, she realized that she was in Tazuna's house and it was already the break of dawn, since the sky outside was tinted with orange. Secondly, Sasuke had turned to face her on his mattress and was staring at her with an unreadable expression. Sakura tore her gaze away from him and turned her body around, not wanting him to see her like that. She bent her knees and supported her forearms on them, fisting her hands as she fought the incessant shaking on her whole body. When she finally stopped quavering, she felt tears pooling in her eyes and closed them tightly.

As time had gone by on this timeline, the nightmares – memories – of the fourth shinobi world war had slowly diminished. Now, almost a year after she's arrived, it'd been _months_ since she'd last had one. It had to be _now_ that she was on a mission and in front of _Sasuke_ of all people that she had to dream such a strong memory. She could only imagine how much she'd been mumbling and whimpering in her sleep, since she felt that her dream had been going on for ages. Sakura wondered if, now that she was starting with missions, this kind of dreams would start plaguing her all over again. This particular once had, without doubt, been induced by what she'd seen during the day.

"Hey." Sasuke's deep voice rang behind her and she could tell from its closeness that he had gotten out of bed to sit right behind her. Sakura acknowledged him by slightly turning her head to the side, still keeping her tear struck face hidden from him with her hair. "Are you all right?"

Sakura nodded once, but didn't say anything; she knew that her voice would break if she did. Sasuke must've inferred that she was crying, since she usually never hid her face from whoever addressed her as a sign of respect. She inwardly thanked him for being collected and respectful of people's personal space, because he quietly retreated and left her alone. If it'd been Naruto, he would've bugged her to no end and she wouldn't have known how to handle that right now; she obviously couldn't tell anybody what her nightmare had been about.

Eventually, Sakura accomplished the task of getting out of the room in one piece and into the bathroom. After sitting in there for another ten minutes, she washed up and got dressed in her kunoichi clothes. There were slight circles under her eyes, she noted, and she looked quite unrested. Sakura entered the kitchen to find that everyone was sitting around the table and breakfast was being served.

"I'm sorry I didn't help you out." Sakura apologized to Tsunami, since she was the _only_ one who actually helped her with the housework, even if it was a bit.

"Don't worry Sakura-san." Tsunami smiled at her warmly.

"Your blond friend didn't come back last night." Tazuna informed her.

"He didn't?" Sakura frowned a bit at the piece of information. She could faintly remember that the same thing had happened last time.

"He probably fell asleep on the spot after training non-stop." Kakashi sighed. "He's so stubborn."

Sakura quickly finished her breakfast and then stood up, excusing herself. She announced that she was going to go out to find Naruto and bring him back. She was about to leave the dining room, when Sasuke stood up as well.

"I'm going with you."

"Oh. Ok, come on." She nodded and left the house, with Sasuke closely walking behind her. "I believe that he must be somewhere in the forest in which you've been training tree climbing."

Sakura and Sasuke walked out of the populated area and got to said forest in a couple of minutes. The silence had stretched out since they'd left the house and Sakura wasn't sure if it was a comfortable one or an awkward one. It was kind of peaceful and without any tension, but there was a lingering feeling of an unsettled issue between the both of them. After walking around for a minute or two, Sakura sensed Naruto's chakra not far from them and led Sasuke that way. When they found the blond genin, Sakura smiled and hurried his way.

"Naruto! You didn't come back last night."

"Hey!" he beamed at her and then scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "It seems I fell asleep under this tree after training last night, hehe."

"That was pretty irresponsible." Sasuke pointed out. "Everyone was worried about you, you know?"

"I was doing my best to improve and be helpful to the team." Naruto practically snapped at Sasuke and Sakura could tell that the tension between the both of them was still there.

"Well, at least you're all right now. Why didn't you head back if you were awake?" Sakura tried to change the subject.

"Well… I woke up not long ago. Something weird happened." He looked ahead with deep concentration. "I was woken up by one of the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen! And in the end… it turned out that it was a guy! How weird is that?"

"Maybe you're into guys." Sakura smirked playfully at him as she raised an eyebrow.

"EH? No way!" Naruto shuddered.

"You should be thankful that it was a civilian. If it'd been Zabuza, you would've been in great trouble." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you'd be dead by now. Falling asleep out here on your own was a pretty stupid thing to do when the enemy is somewhere around here."

"I don't need you giving me any advices, Sasuke." Naruto closed his eyes in annoyance and then opened them to look at the pink-haired female in front of him. "I'm going on ahead, Sakura-chan. I'll meet you back at Tazuna's house."

"Er… ok." Sakura said as Naruto left her and Sasuke alone once again. Sakura knew that Sasuke was right about what he'd said, but he should've known that things between them were not good enough for him to lecture Naruto.

"That dobe." Sasuke mumbled.

"He's reckless like that." She smiled. "But it'll make him a good shinobi one day, you'll see."

"You seem to have a lot of faith in him."

"Oh, I do. I know that the both of you will become great shinobi." She smiled at Sasuke and then her eyes turned soft. "Hey. I want to ask you something."

"Hn."

"Well… since we arrived to the village I've been feeling like you're kind of upset with me about something. Am I right?"

"Well… yeah." Sasuke sighed. "First of all, how could you put your life in the hands of Naruto? You may believe that he will become a great shinobi one day, but he's not one _now._ "

"Would you have me rather put my live in your hands?" Sakura asked, feeling that she already knew what the boy had been feeling. He had felt like the third wheel during their last fight.

"I… yes." He said and looked at her with determination. Sakura could feel a blush starting on her ears, but forced it to fade away almost instantly. "It was a truly reckless thing to do. When faced with a strong enemy, we have to play our cards right. It was not the best plan to leave me to stand aside to watch over Tazuna and go on a suicidal attempt with the dobe."

"Sasuke." Sakura looked at him in the eyes with kind determination. "Know that I trust you as much as I do Naruto. I just wanted to give him the chance to believe in his own worth and strength as a shinobi. I'm sorry if I made you feel left out and I promise that I will try to not do that again. We'll try to work together next time, ok? But you have to believe in Naruto too… after all, everything turned out just right, didn't it?"

"That's the second issue. Your head was almost _severed_ from your body during that plan of yours." Sasuke growled at her and combed his spiky hair with his hand. "You cannot put your life on the line like that. We could've figured out a different way to beat Zabuza."

"It was not that close. I had everything under control." she stubbornly said and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Wasn't it?" he raised and arm and took a hold of one of the short bangs of hair on the back of her head. Sakura had to fight the warm tingling feeling from spreading through her body and the urge to lean into his hand. "Look at this. On this spot, your hair is only a couple centimeters long."

"I…" Sakura felt light-headed as she looked at Sasuke's serious face, which was only a couple palms away from her own. He had stepped closer than he normally would've in order to hold her hair. "I'm sorry. But if I hadn't done that, Naruto would've died and you know it."

"I know." Sasuke said and watched her intently for a couple seconds longer. He finally sighed and allowed his hand to fall back to his side. "Do you not mind that your hair got cut so much? It used to be pretty long."

"Well… I was planning on cutting it myself anyways. It can get in the way during battle and could put all of us in danger." She smiled softly as she remembered how she had been held down by her hair during the chuunin exams in her previous life. "So, Zabuza actually did me a favor… kind of."

Sasuke chuckled at her statement. "It's pretty uneven, though. Do you want me to even it out for you?"

"You… would really do that?" Sakura felt butterflies in her stomach at the mere thought of Sasuke doing such a thing for her. He raised an eyebrow at her – clearly not understanding what she was feeling so flustered about – and nodded. She managed to find her voice and somehow spoke with a straight nonchalant tone. "All right."

Sakura quietly turned her back to Sasuke and sat down on the floor in front of him. She heard him sit behind her and take out a kunai out of his pouch. His hands slowly took hold of her longer strands of hair and cut them to a matching length. Sakura had expected him to be quick and firm while doing such a thing, but she was surprised that he wasn't; his fingers were unexpectedly careful and soft, making sure to do it properly and to avoid pulling at the strands. Sakura closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of his hands working on her hair. It had been such a long time since she'd felt this relaxed and at ease. After a while she remembered something.

"Hey, Sasuke?" She called with her eyes still closed, with an almost slurred voice.

"Hn." If he noticed how her voice had changed, he didn't say anything.

"Happy birthday."

"You knew?" the surprise was slightly recognizable in his voice and in the fact that his hand movements stopped.

"Yeah. Finally thirteen, huh?"

"Hn. Thank you."

 _No Sasuke –_ Sakura smiled as his hands started softly moving on the back of her head - _thank you._

 **A/N: There it is. This chapter didn't have any action at all, but its importance relied on Sakura and Sasuke's interactions. I want to thank NarutoxHonoka for giving me advice on chakra control exercises!**

 **Also, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed of followed! I hope that you are enjoying the story. Please let me know what you think of it!**

 **Next chapter will be the final battle against Zabuza! Look forward to it!**


	9. Wave Mission III

**CHPATER 9**

A complete massacre had happened on the bridge. The place was in complete silence and there was no movement at all. On the ground, amongst the mess that were the tool and logs, lied Tazuna's workers. Dead and surrounded by pools of blood.

"What happened here?" Tazuna's voice stuttered in shock. His eyes seemed torn between fear for his life and grief for his dead workers. The four of them – Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna himself - stood frozen in the spot for a couple moments. Suddenly a thick fog started spreading out of nowhere.

"This is…" Sasuke whispered with an edge to his voice.

"Zabuza's fog… the one he uses for assassination." Kakashi's low voice finished. "Surround Tazuna!"

"Ahhhh… Kakashi. I see you still keep those brats around you." Zabuza's voice sounded from somewhere in the mist as the leaf shinobi made a circle around their client. "Look at that one… he's trembling in fear."

"I'm trembling… because I'm excited." Sasuke smirked and gripped at his kunai, clearly looking forwards to making up for his previous lack of action. He immediately launched at Zabuza's clones, which had gotten dangerously close to the four of them. He dispelled them with no effort at all.

"Ohh… he saw right through my clones. Haku, it seems you've found a worthy opponent." Zabuza said, appearing from the mist, next to a masked boy.

"So, it was indeed a farce. The hunter nin story that you sold us." Kakashi glared at the pair. "You've been keeping him safe all this time."

"I have." Haku answered with his usual calm and collected voice.

"Enough talk. I'll get rid of that coward who hides behind a mask like a clown." Sasuke growled and crouched a bit, readying himself for battle. Haku swirled around in the air as he approached them and Sasuke jumped at him, their kunai clashing.

"Sakura. Stay with the bridge builder." Kakashi commanded and she nodded, moving to stand in front of him. The silver-haired jonin moved closer to Zabuza in order to prevent him from getting closer to the rest of the team.

Sasuke jumped at Haku once again and tried to stab him on the shoulder, but his attack was blocked by Haku's senbon. Haku jumped back and threw senbon as Sasuke, who deflected the attack with his kunai and smirked. He then threw a barricade of shuriken at his opponent, forcing him to jump backwards a good five meters.

"You're pretty fast." Haku acknowledged and Sasuke smugly smirked, his Uchiha pride taking over.

"You bet." Without wasting another second, Sasuke rushed towards him and they clashed their kunai. The raven-haired boy kicked Haku on the gut and he was thrown back. The masked nin launched at Sasuke, their weapons meeting with once again. While their weapons were blocking each others attacks, Haku raised his free hand.

"Now that you're blocking my senbon, you can't escape." He said and started forming seals with only one hand, which surprised everyone. "Makyō Hyōshō!"

Sasuke's eyes were wide as he was surrounded by numerous ice mirrors, which trapped him inside a dome. Sakura had decided to stay close in case that she was needed, dragging Tazuna behind her, and gasped at the sight; she had never seen _this_ in her previous life, since she had stayed away from the fight. She frowned, knowing that this jutsu meant trouble, and decided that she would step into the battle only if needed.

Haku moved closer to a mirror and stepped _into_ it, appearing inside as a mere reflection of himself. Sasuke eyes darted from once mirror to another in concern, noting that every mirror was showing Haku's image and not knowing where the real one was.

"Now we'll start the real fight and I will show what real speed is." The Hakus on the mirrors spoke and raised their hands to throw senbon at Sasuke.

"Aghhh!" Sasuke winced as he looked around, trying to guess where the attacks were coming from in vain.

He tried to run out of the mirror dome, but was stopped by some sort of invisible field that pushed him back inside. Haku's attacks were so fast that Sakura couldn't see them and only was aware that they'd happened when Sasuke got injured. Numerous attacks were thrown at him, cutting him on his whole body. For some reason, the masked ninja was not aiming for Sasuke's vital spots, but that didn't make the situation any better. Sakura nervously looked over to where Kakashi was, seeing that he had already unveiled his sharingan and was watching the fight too. She couldn't fight and be a real asset as long as her sensei was watching, because he would immediately notice how much stronger she really was. She quietly decided to stay out of the fight and step in only if it got too dangerous. After all, everything had gone just right without her interference the last time, right?

"Ahhhh!" Sasuke screamed once again and dropped to the ground, his body constantly being slashed by senbon. He had not been able to dodge any one attack and his body was now starting to become slightly heavier.

Sakura closed her eyes tightly and felt her hands tremble. How had this fight developed last time? Had Naruto interfered? Had Sasuke done something different? Was he going to _die_ this time? At this rate, she would have to step into the fight with Kakashi watching. That would mean that she'd be completely exposed and that her sensei, in the end, would have to inform the Hokage of her abilities. Obviously, that would lead to interrogation and the council finding out about Sasuke's future actions against Konoha. Sakura would risk Sasuke's freedom anytime for his life, but it didn't make her feel any better. She had to _try_ one last resort before all of that.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she screamed. "Hurry up with Zabuza and help Sasuke!"

Kakashi's eyes hardened and he nodded once at her. He turned to his opponent and they started swirling and twisting in the air. As their weapons met, they slowly got out of Sakura's sight and away from the mirror dome. Sakura sighed in relief when they were far enough. _Thank goodness!_ Now she would be able to fight with a higher fraction of her strength – not at all close to her full force, though - knowing that Sasuke wouldn't be able to tell due to his lack of experience.

"Tazuna-san. I'm sorry, but I'll have to step into the fight. There's no way I'll be able to protect you _and_ fight if Sasuke loses."

"I wouldn't stop you, Sakura. Go on, protect your friend!" Tazuna ushered her to join Sasuke in the fight.

Sakura didn't waste another second and ran towards where the mirror dome was. She lowered her hand into her weapon pouch and threw a kunai at the mirror. However, and to her dismay, Haku leaned out of the mirror and caught her weapon with his hand.

"That was a strong throw." Haku noted. "Too bad I _will_ catch it every time."

Sakura frowned and watched as Haku entered the mirror once again, piecing Sasuke's barely recovering body once again. She walked around and aimed another kunai towards another mirror, with the same result. Should she use her chakra enhanced strength to break the mirror? It would definitely make Sasuke suspicious. Her mind went on overdrive as she watched him fall on his knees once again. How was she supposed to win this fight and keep her secret safe? Not only for her sake, but for his own.

"Sasuke!" she yelled at him from outside of the dome. "Let's attack at the same time!"

Sasuke nodded and moved his arm to grab another kunai, but was stopped when Haku threw his senbon once again. He didn't make a noise, but his expression was pained as he fell to the ground once more. Sakura cursed under her breath. Maybe they would be able to break the mirrors if they attacked from the inside and the outside simultaneously. However, they wouldn't be able to do so unless someone else distracted Haku. _Where is Naruto when we need him!_

"I-I cannot lose. I promised myself I'd live until I found my brother." Sasuke growled, his eyes hidden behind his bangs. "I promised I'd be strong enough and avenge my clan."

"You clearly don't understand the true source of strength. When a person has something important they want to protect, that's when they can become truly strong." Haku readied his senbon. "Now, it seems that I will have to finish this quickly."

It was at that moment when Sakura became aware of two different things. First of all, Haku had decided to finish the fight quickly because she had previously realized the weakness to his jutsu; attacking from both sides of the mirrors. Secondly, this meant that he was going to finish off Sasuke within his next couple moves. Sasuke widened his eyes, clearly knowing what was going to happen and his eyes locked with hers. Sakura almost cried at the deep emotion and unexpected fear that she found in them – she had been used to a cold and collected Sasuke during battles. In the blink of an eye, she made a decision; she would step into the dome and help Sasuke however she could until Naruto arrived. If the blonde didn't get there in time, she'd have to use her chakra enhanced strength.

"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed as she ran into the dome at full speed and stepped right next to a panting Sasuke.

The war had not only developed a good ability as a sensor, but she had also heightened her overall senses and instincts. So, even though she couldn't see Haku's attack, she _felt_ it as it neared them. Sakura quickly pushed Sasuke out of harm's way and the senbon barely missed her back, getting stuck on the floor.

"Idiot! Why are you here?!" Sasuke turned around and screamed at her in rage. "Now we're both going to die!"

"What was I supposed to do, watch you die?!" Sakura retorted. "Besides, I can feel his attacks as they approach _and_ I can do this."

Sakura put her palms on Sasuke's shoulder and thigh, where his worse wounds were. Sasuke widened his eyes as she pushed her healing chakra into his deepest wounds, stopping the bleeding in just a couple seconds. She had moved her hands to two other wounds and started healing him once again, when Haku's voice was heard again.

"It seems I'll have to increase my speed."

Sakura jerked at the feeling of senbon cutting through the air at incredible speed and pulled Sasuke away by his hand once more. She flinched when a senbon pierced her thigh and turned to her enemy once again. If this was the speed at which the attacks were going to come from now once, she might not be able to dodge them all. After all, her senses only managed to grasp the attack as it was about to connect. Sakura felt Sasuke's hand tighten around her own and she stepped closer to him. She silently put one of his arms over her shoulders and she her arm around his torso. He looked down at her from the corner of his eyes, seemingly a little uncomfortable by his current predicament. Nonetheless, he understood that such a position was necessary for her to properly move him away. Another wave of senbon came their way and Sakura pushed Sasuke around, but it only allowed them to dodge part of the attack. Both of them got pierced by senbon on their arms, but it was far better than getting injured on their torso. Haku attacked once more and Sakura moved them away from the attack, but another couple senbon cut into them.

Suddenly, the masked nin started attacking from different mirrors so frequently, that it was almost a continuous rain of needles. Sakura trained and sharp analytical mind went through their circumstances in the blink of an eye. She concluded that Haku must've been running out of chakra – she had known that such a jutsu had to be really draining - and had decided use a lot of strength all at once. It was a smart move, seeing as Sakura couldn't move the both of them at such great speed. There were currently two choices; leave Sasuke to get hurt by those senbon and launch a chakra enhanced attack at the mirrors – which would lead to bad consequences later on. She'd need to break all of the mirrors before going back to her teammate and it would give Haku enough time to gravely injure him. What if she didn't manage to heal him in time? Sakura wasn't sure how much she could do without releasing the power of her seal. The second option was to protect Sasuke until Haku ran out of chakra and heal her injuries as they came. It would allow Sasuke to find an opening to finish destroy the mirrors and, if he didn't find a way, she'd be able to crush them after properly healing her body. Sakura decided that the second one was the safest option for the both of them and it held the least risk to expose her abilities.

"Ha!" Sakura jumped at Sasuke, forcing him on the ground, and leaned over him.

"Hey! What are you-" Sasuke was going to ask, but then realized that she was receiving all of the attacks in his stead and his eyes widened. "Sakura! Don't be stupid! Get off me!" He tried to throw her off him, but Sakura swiftly caught his forearms and slammed them back on the ground, one on each side of his head.

"Sorry." Sakura tried to strain a smile, but only managed to wince. She allowed a tiny amount of chakra into her small hands; she knew that if she didn't Sasuke would break free of her hold in no time. His raw strength was, after all, much higher than her own. Sakura quickly checked her own situation and found that, by now, there had to be at least a dozen senbon sticking into her. She closed her eyes and sent healing chakra into her body as fast as she could. The first priority was to protect her vital organs and her systems. The second priority was to slow down the bleeding as much as she could. Sakura was so engrossed in her ministrations that she was completely oblivious to the teen she was looming over.

"Sakura! Don't do this!" Sasuke called another time and tried once again to break free from her hold. _When the fuck did she get so strong?_ Sasuke kept on trying to get her attention, but she kept her eyes closed even as more senbon were thrown at her. "Hey! Look at me!"

Sasuke panicked when a thick drop of her blood landed next to her nose. He saw the deep concentration along with the frown face and frowned in confusion. Was she trying to hide her pain from him? It was ridiculous! She was going to die! _She_ , Sakura, was going to die protecting _him_ ,Uchiha Sasuke. He would never be able to forgive himself if that happened! He felt his heartbeat go crazy as he saw more needles flashing through the air towards Sakura.

 _No, stop. I have to stop them. I have to. I have to._

Sasuke was practically trembling from the mind rushing anxiety, but then he noticed something weird. Suddenly, the course of the attacks were as _clear_ as day for him. He could even see Haku launching the attack and he was certain that he even knew how long he had to dodge or deflect the attack. He immediately connected the dots and knew that he had finally awakened his dojutsu. He widened his crimson eyes as another wave of needles pierced Sakura on the back. Sasuke moved his hands in an attempt to break free, but Sakura wasn't allowing him any movement.

"Damn it, Sakura! Look at me!" he yelled and jerked his head upwards, forcefully hitting Sakura's forehead with his own.

"Ah!" Sakura opened his eyes, surprised at the unexpected pain that came from the front of her body. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see blazing sharingan. She widened her eyes in surprise and let go of his forearms.

Sasuke immediately surrounded her body with his arms and moved them away from the attack, effectively dodging all of the needles. He moved her behind him to have her lean on his back, put her arms around his shoulder and held her up from under her thighs. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as her carefully watched the attacks that were going to be thrown at them. It was amazing that he would tell what the attacks' course was going to be just before it was launched. He swiftly dodged all of the attacks one after the other as he held Sakura up on a piggy back ride. Slowly, the attacks became slower and slower, to the point where Sasuke figured that maybe his sharingan wouldn't be necessary anymore. Suddenly, Haku's attacks stopped and he simply stood in his mirrors, watching them cautiously.

"Sakura, he's slowing down! We have to think of a plan now!" he smirked at the newly acquired advantage. He waited for her answer but she kept quiet and still on his back. "Sakura! Hey!"

"Get 'em off." Sakura groaned.

"Hn." Sasuke immediately understood what she needed and he lay Sakura down on her stomach. He quickly started pulling the needles off her back and dropping them with a _clank_ on the floor. He looked over at Haku, who for some reason had decided to give them some space. It was as if he was allowing them a moment, as if something important was about to happen. As if she was going to… _No._ He understood then why Haku had stopped attacking. There were so many needles on her back and they had pierced her so deeply, that Sasuke felt a tight knot build in his throat as he came to the realization. There was no way she could survive such injuries and Haku knew that too. Sakura moaned in pain every time he pulled one of the needles out of her. He finished taking out the last one and, with eyes that expressed a deep sorrow, he spoke with a soft whisper. "I'm sorry that I hurt you."

Sakura almost laughed at the irony of his words, but only a strained sound was produced by her throat. She started sending healing chakra – what was left of it – towards her more serious wounds to stop the bleeding. Her back, her hair and her legs were drenched in blood and she could already feel a little lightheaded from to loss of it. She was about to open her mouth and tell Sasuke that she was going to be all right, when another voice echoed inside the mirror dome.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto ran towards the dome, but was stopped by his male teammate.

"Stop! Stay out of the dome or we will all be doomed!"

"W-What happened to Sakura-chan?" the blonde's voice broke and Sakura could only wonder how she looked like. A couple seconds passed without answer and Naruto snapped. "Sasuke! Tell me! What happened? Why… Why didn't you protect her!?"

"I… took too long. I was too weak." Sasuke's voice trembled right next to Sakura and she felt her heart break. She was going to open her mouth, but she was interrupted again _._

"Bastard! I'm going to fucking kill you as soon as we're finished here! You're supposed to look after your teammates!" Naruto yelled in fury.

"I tried to! And look who's talking! You weren't even here to help us!" Sasuke snarled in a low voice right next to Sakura.

"Stop!" she shakily pushed her body upwards with her hands, forcing her aching muscles to work once again, and looked up to her teammates. She watched the hopeful expressions of both boys as they turned to look at her, but they were immediately replaced by shame as she spoke again with a trembling voice. "Why? Why do you always do this? And I'm _always_ stuck in the middle of it all! Now, look at this! We might die today and all you do is keep on fighting! The _both_ of you are responsible for the lack our teamwork! _None_ of you have really put effort into changing that dynamic for real! Your childish bickering is going to get us killed!"

Sakura's voice broke at the end of the sentence and her body dropped back to the floor. She supported her weight on her forearms and her head hung low. Her heart ached at the thought that not even in _this_ situation Sasuke and Naruto had managed to put their fighting aside. If they lived longer than this day and their behavior went on up to the chuunin exams, they might all get killed by either Orochimaru or another team. If this went on, Sasuke would get the cursed mark and everything would go down the same fucked up road once again. Sakura only realized that she was crying when she saw tears dropping to the ground beneath her. A warm hand was placed on her shoulder and she looked up to meet Sasuke's sharingan.

"You're right." He acknowledged and then he averted his eyes before speaking again. "I… I'm sorry."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled from the outside. "Things will be different from now on! Believe it! Right, Sasuke?"

"They will." Sasuke locked eyes with her once again. He then stood up and turned around to face the blonde. "Naruto! Make 10 clones and have them all attack the same mirror from the outside, while I do it from the inside. We have to make the hit simultaneously!"

"You got it! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Sakura was not on good shape, but she was feeling well enough to give them a hand in the fight if needed. She was not at all surprised that Sasuke had figured out the jutsu's weakness as well. In a puff of smoke, a dozen Naruto's appeared and cheered. They all charged at one of the mirrors and Sasuke mirrored their actions. Haku tried to pierce Sasuke with senbon, but his dojutsu read each one of his attacks and dodged or blocked with ease. Sakura watched with anticipation as they all connected a hit with the mirror at the exact same time; Naruto's clones had punched the mirror while Sasuke had used a kunai and stabbed it from the inside. They all stepped away from the mirror as it cracked from the center to the edge and finally broke into a thousand pieces.

"Yes!" Naruto smiled.

"Good job, dobe." Sasuke smirked from inside of the dome.

Haku realized that he was on a tight spot and started throwing more senbon towards Sasuke – who was still inside the dome – in an almost desperate manner. Nonetheless, the Uchiha flawlessly dodged all of his needles and punched another mirror at the same time as Naruto did. It shattered once again. Sakura smiled as she watched both boys work in synch as if it were second nature to them. One minute later, over half the mirrors were already broken. Haku seemed to realize that there was no point in keeping his chakra draining jutsu anymore and he dispelled it. He landed on the floor soundlessly and jumped away from his opponents.

"Arghh!" Sasuke launched at him, trying to kick him in the shin, but Haku blocked his attack and punched him away.

Naruto went straight towards the masked boy and started throwing kicks and punches. Haku blocked them all, once again, and jumped at Sasuke. Both boys got into a taijutsu battle with him, but he kept up to their attacks. Even though he was more experienced and older than them, Sakura was surprised at how tight the fight was. He was most certainly going through chakra depletion due to how long he had kept his kekkei genkai going. Naruto made another dozen clones and they all went to attack Haku at the same time. Sasuke took out a fuuma shuriken and threw it at great speed towards the masked boy. Haku jumped in the air, twisting his body around as he blocked the clones' attacks and dodged Sasuke's oversized weapon. However, Naruto was right above him as he did and threw a strong punch at his face. Haku was not fast enough to completely dodge it, and the blonde's fist kicked his mask away.

"W-what? It's you! The boy from the forest!" Naruto's eyes widened. "You were the one who was helping Zabuza all along? You gotta be kidding me!"

"I am." Haku said and stopped moving when he saw that Sasuke had stood still too.

"You seemed like a kind person to me! How could you possibly be helping a tyrant!" Naruto demanded.

"I've decided to dedicate my live to someone dear to me. I doesn't matter what he's asking of me, I will do my best to help him and protect him." Haku answered.

Sakura's eyes widened at the sight of the boy's face and the memories that came rushing to her. With all the issues surrounding Sasuke and Naruto these past days she had _completely_ forgotten that this boy had a good heart. And he was going to _die._ How could she have not thought of a way to help him?

Suddenly, a loud chirping noise sounded around the mist and there was electricity in the air. It was Kakashi's raikiri. Haku's eyes widened, knowing that a lethal attack was about to be delivered on his most important person, his only family.

"I'll willingly die if it means saving the life of someone important to me." He smiled. "Just like your friend did. I'm sorry about her."

"What do you mean?" Naruto's confused voice was lower than usual, but his question went without answer.

It didn't surprise Sakura that Haku thought she had died; no one should be able to sustain such a great amount of damage and live. It was good that she wasn't anybody when it came to healing abilities. Haku closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his remaining chakra and strength, and then flashed out of there. Sakura's eyes widened at the knowledge that he already had, once again, lost his life. And she had done _nothing_ about it. She had forgotten about who he really was and it had resulted in his death. A deep sense of guilt engulfed the pink-haired girl and she allowed her body to drop back to the ground.

"No…" Sakura mumbled and closed her eyes tightly. A couple seconds later, she heard quick footsteps nearing.

"Sakura!" Sasuke's unexpectedly worried voice was clear in the mist.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto arrived next to her with her raven-haired teammate. She felt his calloused hand take hold of her smaller one. "Sakura-chan…"

"I-I'm all right." Sakura slightly lifted her body and turned to meet her friends' faces.

"You're alive… how? You were... those attacks…" Sasuke said with wide eyes.

"I… kind of healed the live-threatening damage." Sakura's eyes softened at the sight of her team in front of her; relief was written all over their faces.

Their attention was diverted once again when, suddenly, Kakashi was next to them while holding Haku, who had been pierced by his raikiri right through the chest. He let the boy down and jumped away from Zabuza, who was jumping at him with his sword. Kakashi twisted around at enormous speed, landed behind Zabuza and caught a hold of his neck. He was about to deliver the finishing blow, but then Gato appeared out of nowhere with an army of thugs behind him. Everything happened the same way it had the last time, and Zabuza massacred most of them along with Gato. He sustained a great amount of damage and dropped to the ground half dead, his eyes regretful of Haku's death. Just when the rest of the thugs were having thoughts of finishing the fight, Inari came to the bridge with most of the inhabitants of the town, who were armed with spears and masts. They all scurried down from the bridge and into a boat, leaving the place for good. As the whole town cheered, Sakura felt Sasuke crouch next to her.

"Come on, let's get you some rest." He said as put one of her arms over his shoulder to pull her to a standing position.

"Let me help, too!" Naruto was on her other side the next second and he put her other arm over his shoulders.

Sakura wasn't really feeling that bad – she had, after all, healed most of the real damage – and figured that she'd be able to walk all the way to Tazuna's house no problem. However, as she felt both her teammates arms around her form, she had to keep quiet about that fact. The warmth that emitted from their bodies was surrounding her body in a lulling manner. Also, the peaceful quiet between the three of them was something she'd never felt before – not even in their previous life. Until now, both boys had not gotten along and she had been the third wheel in her past life. However, at this moment, the three of them were on par, on equal terms. There was a sense of bonding that she had never felt before. The relief Sakura felt with it was overwhelming, warmth uncontrollably spreading though her chest.

"Finally, guys! We can now call ourselves a _team_!" Sakura beamed and laughed honestly, in joy. Her arms tightened around her friends' necks, bringing them closer to her and making them slightly lean their heads on her shoulders. Naruto loudly laughed along with her, as was expected of him. On the other hand, Sasuke simply smiled a bit, but there was a sense of warmth in his eyes. They didn't voice it aloud, but Sakura was certain that they agreed with her.

It had been such a _long_ time since Sakura had felt this happy.

 **A/N: So, this was the final part of the Wave Mission. I hope that you guys enjoyed the changed I made to it! As per usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.**


	10. Worries

**CHAPTER 10**

Sakura had always been the first one to arrive to wherever she was supposed to meet with her team. Long ago, she'd decided to use the waiting time to rest a bit from her ritual morning training. Two days after getting back to Konoha from the Land of Waves, team 7 was supposed to meet at the usual spot; the bridge. However, when Sakura got there, she saw that she was not the first one to arrive. Leaning on the old wooden railing and looking down at the stream was an unusually early Sasuke. Sakura hadn't seen him since their return, since they'd been allowed some resting time, and she quickly assessed his well-being. She decided that he seemed healthy and sighed in relief. After the final battle, the rest of her team had stubbornly refused to allow her to heal anybody aside from herself. She had been a bit annoyed by their overprotectiveness but, at the same time, felt a little guilty for making them worry so much. Nonetheless, no matter how much she worried, there was no way that she could just go and tell them 'Oh, no worries, I'm almost immortal and can heal practically every wound inflicted to my body'.

"Sakura." Sasuke turned his head towards her in greeting.

"Hey, Sasuke. You're early." she smiled and Sasuke nodded at her.

Sakura came to a stop next to him and leaned on the railing as well. She stood there for what seemed like an eternity, and she decided that the silence between them was uncommonly tense. She wondered what was on his mind and if something had happened to him during the past days that she hadn't seen him. After ten or twenty minutes, she decided to break the stillness. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm as good as new." Sasuke answered quickly and waved his hand in a quick dismissal for his own situation. He then observed her from head to toe with a furrowed eyebrow. "How are _you_ feeling? Did your wounds heal properly?"

"Yeah. I managed to heal most of the damage, so the medics at the hospital had little work to do." Sakura tried to reassure him. _That was the subject on his mind, huh?_

"Did you sustain any internal damage? I'm sure that those attacks must've pierced at least a couple organs."

"Oh, don't worry. I healed them myself, so there was no need to make any tests or anything."

"Are you kidding me?" Sasuke frowned and put his hand on his hip. "Why can't you care a bit more about your own health?"

"Sasuke, really there's nothing to worry about." She nodded her head, trying to reassure him.

"No, Sakura. You don't know that. You have to get tested." Sasuke took a step closer to her, getting a bit closer.

"Er… all right." Sakura said, knowing that she wouldn't do it. She was the best medic around, for god's sakes. "I'll do it."

"I'll go with you." He sternly said and Sakura raised her eyebrows in question. "I can tell you're not really convinced about going and I want to make sure you do it."

"Okaaaay." Sakura sighed and then leaned over the railing and supported her head on her hand. She watched how the sun reflected on the water as a couple leaves floated on top of it.

"Hey." Sasuke's voice was so quiet, that she almost didn't hear him. She turned her head and looked at him in the eye, noting that he looked somehow uncomfortable. "You.. I mean… why?"

"Why?" Sakura tilted her head and Sasuke was clearly troubled by her lack of understanding, because he turned his head away from her. "Why what?"

"Back then. You almost died because of me… you could've certainly saved yourself, but you decided to take a risk to keep me safe. Why did you do it?" Sasuke's voice was almost a whisper and she could only wonder what face he was making.

"I…" Sakura didn't know what to say and remained quiet for a couple moments. First of all, she was sure she would be able to heal. Secondly, the reason was simple. _Because I love you._ "Because you're my teammate and I care about you. We're supposed to look after each other, right? Besides, I was sure everything would turn out just fine."

"You…" Sasuke turned to look at her with slightly wide eyes, taken aback about her honesty about her emotions. However, he quickly covered his shock and cleared his throat. "You didn't _know_ that. If I hadn't awakened my sharingan…"

"But you did." Sakura smiled. "And everything's all right now, isn't it?"

"How can you…" Sasuke closed his eyes and passed a hand through his hair. He sighed in surrender and then looked at her firmly once again. "We'll only be sure about that once you've gotten tested."

"Hai, hai."

After another couple minutes of silence, there were quick steps on the bridge. Sakura and Sasuke looked to their right and saw a running Naruto.

"Hey, guys!" Naruto smiled and waved his hand.

"Hey, Naruto."

"Dobe." Sasuke greeted him with a small smirk.

"I'm sorry I'm a bit late, but there was a huge queue at Ichiraku's." Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head and then proceeded to complain about how he'd had to wait over twenty minutes for his so called breakfast - Sakura really couldn't agree to call ramen breakfast.

Surprisingly, Kakashi arrived only five minutes after Naruto had, which was only 20 minutes late. They all proceeded to train for the whole morning, practicing their general taijutsu and weapon abilities. When noon came, Kakashi announced that they would have a special exercise at three sharp at the same training ground they were in. After their sensei left, team 7 proceeded to go grab lunch at Ichiraku's – Naruto had insisted on it.

"So-" Naruto started as he slurped his second bowl of ramen. "Whaw daya guys thwink the spwecial exswsice phil be?"

"Don't be gross, dobe." Sasuke reprimanded at his lack of manners.

"I don't know." Sakura thought for a moment. "Maybe a teamwork practice?"

"It would make sense." Sasuke nodded. "We haven't been exactly working as a team until now."

"Ha! We'll show him! Right, team?" Naruto grinned in a cheerful manner and then proceeded to stuff his mouth with food once again.

"Yeah." Sakura smiled and then looked at her empty bowl. She noticed that Sasuke was finished too and that Naruto was almost done. "We still have some time to kill. You guys want to go check out the new weapon shop that opened up across the street?"

"What weapon shop?" Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"You'll see when we get there." Sasuke said and each paid for their own meal.

"What are we waiting for! Come on!" Naruto cheered and placed the money for his food on the table.

Sasuke and Sakura followed his example and stood up, following him out of the food stand. However, as Naruto rushed out of the shop, he crashed on someone and violently fell to the ground.

"Oof." He rubbed the back of his head and then looked up.

"Well, what do we have here? Another clumsy konoha shinobi? The level of shinobi in this village keeps impressing me – and not in a good way." Said an older teen dressed in black and with red markings on his face. Sakura immediately recognized him as Kankuro, and was about to stop Naruto from bursting out.

"AAHHHH? Who the hell are you and how _dare_ you look down on our village?" Naruto growled, stood up hastily and pointed a finger at the unknown person. "I can show you how good we are any time, jerk!"

"Tch. A brat like you should know its place." Kankuro retorted. Sakura saw Temari and Gaara appear from behind him and stand on both sides of him.

"You three are not Konoha shinobi." Sasuke pointed at Kankuro's forehead protector. "Why are you here?"

"We're here for the chuunin exams, obviously." Kankuro pointed out.

"Huh? Chuuhin exams?" Naruto was clearly confused, since he had never heard about that.

"It's not a surprise that you don't know about it, brat." Kankuro smirked. "You will probably be a gennin all of your life."

"Shut up!" Naruto growled, a bit embarrassed.

"Naruto!" Sakura finally intervened and took a firm hold of her blond friend's wrist. "Don't pick a fight!"

"Huh? It's not my fault!"

"What's wrong, pinky?" Kankuro retorted and smirked at her in despise. "You afraid?"

"No, I'm not." Sakura said and threw him a sharp glare. She knew that Kankuro would grow up to be a good and careful man one day, but right now she couldn't help be pissed at his childish and reckless behavior. "It's not smart to pick up fights with local shinobi on a foreign village."

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Kankuro returned her glare and moved a hand to grab her arm, but was intercepted by Sasuke. He glared at him as his squeezed the nin's arm.

"Stop, both of you." Sakura let go of Naruto and moved to stand between the other two shinobi. She took hold of both shinobi's arms in an iron hold and tightened her small hands around them. Her hold was so strong, that both teens winced and were forced to retreat their hands. She let go of Sasuke's arm but kept her hand firmly around Kankuro's. She turned her whole body to face him and looked him in the eyes with determination. "I know that you are shinobi from Suna. Your village and ours have had a hard time maintaining some minimum diplomacy. It's taken great effort from both our Kage's and it would be greatly disrespectful to destroy all of their work. Especially if it's such childish bickering. Naruto, apologize for bumping into him."

"Huh? But he-" he answered Sakura, who was still keeping her gaze locked on the Suna nin.

" _Apologize._ " She repeated with a strict voice that allowed no questioning.

"I'm sorry." Naruto mumbled, not happy at all for having to apologize to such an arrogant person.

"If you think I will apologize to any of you, you can go fuck yourself." Kankuro snorted and raised his head to literally look down at Sakura.

"Kankuro." Gaara's voice sounded and his demonic bloodlust filled the whole athmosphere. "Let go of it now, or I'll kill you."

"R-right." Kankuro shrunk and lowered his head.

Everybody stood still in fear and Sakura took the chance to let go of Kankuro's wrist. She then turned to look at Gaara in the eye and forced herself to keep a straight face. She'd grown quite fond of the man in the future and was a bit saddened seeing him like this. Gaara's bloodlust was strong and it would terrify almost every shinobi, but Sakura didn't even flinch at it. After all, she'd been in the presence of the Kyuubi numerous times _and_ had battled the Juubi.

"Please excuse us for the inconvenience." She said with a straight voice and without breaking eye contact with him. "I hope that relations between our villages continue to prosper."

"I second that." Gaara said with slight surprise. That small pink haired girl had held his gaze as he released his bloodlust and hadn't even cringed. She bowed her head in a respectful manner and was about to turn away when he stopped her with a commanding voice. "Wait. Tell me your name."

"Haruno Sakura. What about you?"

"Gaara." He said curtly. He then looked at his team and jerked his head, motioning for them to leave.

Temari looked at Sakura briefly and faintly smiled at her before leaving. Sakura returned the smile and was reminded of how close she would become to all of them. When the Team Seven was left alone on the street once again, Sasuke and Naruto relaxed a bit.

"Sakura-chan! That was great! How could you even look at that guy in the eye? He was terrifying!"

"That doesn't matter. Naruto, you should've been more responsible." Sakura reprimanded him.

"You pick up a fight with another village about nonsense and yet you want to be Hokage." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Let's just go meet Kakashi already."

Naruto's eyes widened at Sasuke's words, knowing that he was spot on, and he remained quiet the rest of the way. When they got to the training ground, they were surprised to see Team 10 sitting around. Sakura immediately approached Ino and waved.

"Ino!"

"Forehead!" Ino smiled and ran to meet her half way. "We haven't met for almost two weeks. Where have you been?"

"We were on a mission on the Land of Waves and just got back a couple days ago."

"Oh." Ino's eyes trailed over to Sasuke and she got closer to Sakura so that she could whisper in her ear. "So you spent two whole weeks with Sasuke, huh? Did you learn something new about him? Did he say anything about me?"

"He told me he loved you and wanted to set up a date to meet for a romantic dinner at Ichiraku's." Sakura mocked her and rolled her eyes.

"Agh! Don't mock me!" Ino slapped her on the nape. "Besides, a romantic dinner would _need_ to be at a real restaurant, not something petty like instant ramen. That's something probably _Naruto_ would do."

"Probably. That sounds a lot like him." Sakura smiled to herself and decided that, whoever Naruto chose to date, she would have to put up with such things. Actually, those were the kind of things that made him so unique.

"Sakura."

"Hey, Shikamaru. Choji." Sakura smiled at the two newcomers and they greeted back. Soon they were joined by Sasuke and Naruto and, finally, by Asuma. Kakashi, as usual, was the last one to arrive.

"Hello, my dear students!" Kakashi said as he stepped out of the smoke of his transportation jutsu. "How are you doing?"

"You're late, sensei!" Naruto complained. "You'll make us look bad!"

"Oh, I'm sorry guys. I just stepped into a weird hole on the ground and fell on it. I ended up on the other side of the-"

"Keep it, sensei. Don't we have an exercise to do?" Sakura interrupted him with a twitching eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah. Asuma, will you do the honors?" he said yawning and stretched backwards to lean on a tree. Sakura fought the urge to roll her eyes at his antics. _Lazy as always._

"All right. You know that one on one spars are good enough to test and improve your individual abilities and that we do that all the time. So, to change our routine a bit and in view that we only seldom have this opportunity to improve our work as a unit, each team will be working together and try to defeat the other one. However, the main tactic should not be a straight spar or battle. Instead, you are expected to mostly rely on your analytical and strategic abilities as well as your teamwork." Asuma stopped for a moment and looked around to make sure there were no doubts.

"Asuma-sensei." Choji scratched his cheek. "Why aren't we supposed to use our battle abilities? We are shinobi after all… we _are_ supposed to depend on them."

"Good question. There are many missions that require execution causing as little commotion as possible or even in complete secrecy. At those times battle abilities are almost counterproductive. The current exercise consists on trying to find and steal the other team's treasure. Team 10's treasure will be a small wooden box and Team 7's treasure will be a small green box." He said and raised said items on each hand. "As you see, both items have virtually the same potential to be camouflaged and are the same size and shape. The only difference will be the ability that you will have when working together." Asuma finished and handed one treasure to Shikamaru and the other one to Naruto. "You can only use a 10 meter radius area around the center of this clearing, which allows only for a line or two of trees for hiding. Now, both teams have five minutes to develop a strategy on those opposite spots" he pointed towards two points on the edge of the clearing. "and come back here. This emulates how little time teams have to prepare for the real thing out there. When both teams have come back to this spot, I will give you the sign to start the hunt. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes." Sasuke raised his hand. "How much fighting or ninjutsu are we allowed to use?"

 _Figures._ Sakura rolled her eyes and Asuma explained that the more fighting is depended upon, the lower the score on teamwork, which was what this was all about. Sasuke growled a bit, clearly not fond of the idea of not being allowed to use his jutsus. Kakashi gave them the signal to start and each team went different ways.

"So, do you guys have something in mind?" Naruto asked in a low voice as they gathered closely.

"I believe that we should hide our box. It's the safest option." Sasuke whispered.

"I think that we should use a shinobi's best tactic." Sakura smirked. "Deceit."

"Oh. You mean…" Sasuke smirked back at her and Sakura nodded.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto questioned.

"We should spy on the other team." Sakura said. "You guys find a proper place to hide the box and I'll watch them." She intently looked at Sasuke in the eye, hoping that he would understand the hidden message. _Naruto is completely_ obvious _, remember that!_

The boys quickly agreed to her plan, so Sakura made a clone and quickly dashed out of there. She could feel Kakashi's presence somewhere watching her nearby, but he was an expert at hiding his presence and not even she could pinpoint his exact location. She slightly hid her presence, just enough so that Team 10 wouldn't notice her, and quietly dashed through the tree crowns. She found them soon enough and noticed that they had decided to hand the box over to Ino. It was the best choice amongst the three of them, since she would've been the less likely to have it. Her team would probably guess that either Shikamaru – due to his brains and speed – or Choji – due to his raw strength – would be keeping it. Shikamaru pointed towards her leg and Ino put the box inside a holster that was tied to her thigh and hidden under her skirt. _Smart._ None of the boys would dare look in that place. Sakura noticed that they whispered some more, but since she wasn't completely masking her chakra, she couldn't get close enough to hear what they were saying. When the time was almost up, Sakura headed back to where her team was waiting.

"Ok. Ino has the box, but it's under her skirt." She said and eyed the team who was gathered on the other side of the clearing.

"What?! Do you expect us to… to…" Naruto blabbered and suddenly there was a goofy grin on his face. "Hehe… If you guys want me to, I can-"

"No, I'll do it." Sakura lightly smacked him on the head. "This isn't a real mission, Naruto."

"The box is hidden under that tree trunk." Sasuke pointed to a tree and Sakura nodded. "All right, let's go back."

Team 7 arrived at the clearing around the same time as Team 10 and they gathered around. When Kakashi gave the signal to start, Team Seven immediately jumped at Ino and Shikamaru and Choji ran in front of her to protect her. Sasuke clashed his kunai with Choji and Naruto sent a kick towards Shikamaru. Sakura jumped above them and landed behind Ino, who turned around to punch her. Sakura caught her punch – which was sadly still weak – and Ino aimed a kick to her side. Sakura caught her leg as well and then twisted her around, forcing her on her knees. As she held her down, Sasuke came rushing to her and took a hold of her arms in Sakura's stead.

"Wh-What are you doing, Forehead?!" Ino complained when Sakura's hand lifted her skirt to search through her holster. As Sakura's hand neared her holster, she realized that none of her teammates were there to help her. She knew before she felt it; the box wasn't there anymore. _Damn it, Shikamaru!_

"Naruto, I know where you hid your box." Shikamaru smirked at the blonde. Obviously, Naruto panicked and his eyes darted towards the tree where they had hidden the item.

Shikamaru smugly smirked at his obliviousness and darted towards the spot. Sakura quickly looked at Sasuke, but he had an amused look in his face when their eyes met. Sakura had to stiffen her laugh and then the both of them jumped at Choji.

"Shika!" Ino screamed as she stood up and ran after Team 7.

Sakura and Sasuke caught Choji in a lock in just a couple moves and then Sasuke proceeded to check his pockets. Naruto noticed that his help was needed and he moved to stand in front of Ino, blocking her way. Shikamaru obviously noticed that he had been played, but by the time he came back to the rest of his team, Sasuke was lifting his hand and holding up their opponent's box.

"We win." He announced.

"Damn it." Shikamaru sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"So, Team 7 wins the encounter, huh?" Asuma grinned and laughed loudly. "I must say that you both did well. Team 10 assumed that they were probably being watched, so they purposely misled the other team and then used the weakness of an opponent to their advantage. On the other hand, Team 7 decided to observe their opponents almost immediately _and_ used the weakness of one of their own to fool them."

"What do you mean?" Naruto frowned.

"Naruto, the box was never under that tree." Sakura smiled fondly at him. _He's still such a child._

"What?!" Naruto widened his eyes and face palmed. "I can't believe it!"

"It was the obvious course of action, dobe." Sasuke chuckled and eyes the blonde, whose mouth was agape.

"You did well." Ino smiled as she neared Sakura and then leaned over to whisper in her ear. " _Damn it,_ you should've asked Sasuke to search me over! Maybe it would've caught his interest, you know?"

Sakura simply laughed along with her friend and bit her goodbye as she turned around to leave with her team. However, before they disappeared out of sight, Shikamaru turned to look at her over his shoulder. His gaze was calculating and slightly narrowed, and Sakura could only wonder what he was so suspicious about. Was he upset about not winning? She didn't think so; it didn't seem like something that he would care about. Had she been too well hidden and he had become suspicious about not sensing her?

"What's up with him, huh?" Naruto huffed and put his hands on his hips as the Nara teen finally left. Sasuke didn't say anything, but observed Sakura curiously. Soon Kakashi was in front of them and clapped his hands together once in an overly cheerful manner.

"Well, it seems that my lovely student's teamwork has finally developed. I'd even say that it's above the usual genin level." Kakashi commented and there was a slight crinkle on his visible eye, meaning that he was smiling. "Therefore, I have decided to sign you guys up for the chuunin exams. What do you say?"

"Yes! I'll show that Kankuro bastard!" Naruto punched the air and Sasuke simply nodded in agreement.

"I say yes." Sakura said and forced herself to keep the worry out of her face. She had long ago decided that Orochimaru was too tricky and elusive to avoid. If they didn't take the chuunin exams, he would come after Sasuke anyways and Sakura wouldn't have a way to protect him. On the other hand, if they _did_ take the chuunin exams, she would have the knowledge of how things would transpire and have therefore the upper hand. Also, she had assessed her current abilities and amount of sealed up chakra and concluded that she was strong enough. She estimated that her current strength was not far from what it'd used to be by the time the fourth war had started. It had taken a _lot_ of effort in the past two years and she guessed that her abilities would be on the previous level in less than six months.

"Good. These over here are the registration forms, which you must fill in and get your parents to sign." Kakashi said as he handed the sheets to his students. "Of course, the last part only applies to Sakura. I'll be the one to sign this up for you boys before you turn them in. You have until tomorrow at 3:00 pm to turn them in at the Ranking Office at the Hokage Tower. Let's meet at the entrance half an hour earlier."

"All right. See you there sensei." Sakura waved him goodbye along with Naruto, while Sasuke simply nodded once. They were turning away from Kakashi to leave, but the older jonin spoke once again.

"Sakura. I'd like to have a word with you, if you don't mind."

"Oh. All right." Sakura turned around and looked over her shoulder. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Have a seat." Kakashi sat down and patted the ground in front of him. Sakura did as he said and then looked up with a questioning glance. "Is there a problem between Shikamaru and you?"

"Well, as far as I know there isn't. I noticed how he turned to look at me, but I really don't know why." Sakura said honestly. If Shikamaru was suspicious of her – which he had evidently been – Kakashi would wonder about her too – that, if he didn't already.

"Right. Well, that's not what I wanted to discuss. You see, I wanted to talk about your medical abilities."

"Okay." Sakura raised her eyebrows in question and tried to keep a regular heartbeat. She had already thought about what to answer if it came to this, but she still was a bit nervous.

"Back at the Wave Mission you healed Naruto's hands and then, on the mission report, you stated that you healed some of the injuries produced during battle. I've been thinking about this for a long time and I truly wonder when all of this… _changes…_ happened. I mean, I read your academy profile before meeting you and there weren't any mentions about this."

"Well… You do remember that my scores on chakra control were the best at the academy?" Sakura asked and Kakashi nodded. "I noticed that I had a natural aptitude for it a year or two before graduating… so I started reading about what abilities relied strongly on it. That's how I came across medical ninjustu."

"So… you've been practicing chakra control and medic ninjutsu since before you graduated?"

"Yes, I even mentioned it when we introduced each other, if I remember correctly. I'd say I've been learning for a little over two years."

"And you've been learning _all alone_? No teacher? No field experience? No _hospital_ experience?" Kakashi narrowed his eye at her and Sakura felt a shiver go down her spine.

"Well… I bought a great book – an encyclopedia actually – about the human body, medic Justus and how to apply them. I think it might've taken me longer than most people because I didn't have a teacher, but I _had_ a lot of time. I also practiced on myself; a small scrape or cut at first and then some deeper gashes."

"So… you're telling me that you practically learned medical ninjutsu by yourself and with the aid of a _book._ " Kakashi leaned closer to her, examining her thoroughly.

"I think so…" Sakura wanted to ask him if there was something wrong with it, but she didn't want him to dig any deeper. She settled for a confused expression and silence.

"Well." Kakashi straightened back and closed his eye for a moment. "Some of the chakra control exercises you performed were high chuunin level and you'd learned them around the time you graduated. It's completely remarkable and extremely rare for this to happen. I'd say that you're a genius. What surprises me and makes me wonder though is _why_ this wasn't noticed back at the academy."

"I… I didn't really do any of this back then. I saw how particularly skilled students were treated and I didn't like it."

"Hm." Kakashi eyed her for another couple seconds in silence. Sakura had known him for _years_ and she was certain that he was still suspicious about her, but didn't know of any other way to question her. For now. She just hoped that he would drop it and let her leave before she gave herself away to his sharp observation skills. "All right. I think that abilities like yours shouldn't be allowed to go to waste. I will personally talk to the head of the hospital and request that he allows you to work and learn there. You should go talk to him once the chuunin exams are over. You would like to do that, right?"

"Yes. Thank you sensei." Sakura smiled and slightly bowed her head in gratefulness.

When Sakura sensed that the conversation was over, she waved and hurriedly left the clearing. As she walked away on a forced and painfully slow manner, she took a couple deep breaths, sensing that Kakashi was still back there. She cursed herself at her nervousness; she had been faced with death many times during her life and with the juubi, Madara, Kabuto, Sasori… and yet she almost lost her cool when _Kakashi_ of all people questioned her. On the other hand, it made sense that she was kind of scared of having someone dear distrust her. Nonetheless, if this happened a second time, she'd have-

"Where do _you_ think you're going?"

"Wha-!" Sakura nearly jumped at the sudden interruption. She was surprised to see Sasuke standing there, leaning on a tree next to the path that connected the training ground with the village. "Why are you here?"

"Have you forgotten already?" Sasuke said expecting an answer that never came and sighed. "Testing? You have a health to look after? Remember?"

"Oh. That." Sakura dumbly said and felt Sasuke's hand wrap around her own, pulling her forward. She silently walked next to him and, when he was certain that she wasn't going to bail, he let go of her. Sakura turned her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow and willed her eyes to stay away from her palm, which was still tingling from the warm touch. Her astonishment at the contact must've been obvious, because a weird silence stretched for a while. She finally decided to break it, so she asked the first thing that she thought of. "So, what test am I supposed to be taking?"

"Aren't you the medic?"

"I guess. I thought you knew, since you were so adamant about the tests and all." Sakura smiled and soon she saw the hospital in her line of sight.

They soon entered the reception room and she asked to see a general doctor. Thankfully, the hospital was unusually empty and she was called up before she could take a sit on the waiting room. Sasuke stubbornly followed her inside and waited in the hallway as she took the tests. When Sakura had taken blood samples and came out of the scanner room, he followed her back into the medic box.

"You know, Sasuke, this is actually kind of weird. You seem like a creep following me around like that." Sakura said teasingly and smirked when he growled and mumbled something incomprehensible. Sakura managed to pick up something along the lines of _'it's not like I'm enjoying this, but I know that you might try to bail or hide the results.'_

It turned out that the tests results only took 5 minutes to be out and, as soon as they were, the doctor announced that Sakura was completely healthy. As Sakura and Sasuke walked out of the building, it was already dawn. Sakura watched Sasuke from the edge of her vision.

"See? I _knew_ I was ok, you didn't have to worry about me." She said and he tensed a bit. He wasn't comfortable having his feelings – or worries – exposed like that and stayed quiet for a moment or two.

"Well... It's not like I was _worried_ worried. You're a part of the team and we're supposed to look after eachother, otherwise it could become a hindrance to our performance."

"Yeah, whatever you say." Sakura smiled at him, relishing on how he was slightly flustered at her teasing. Sasuke finally sighed in surrender and averted his eyes. She was certain that, as soon as he found what her weak spot was, he'd be the one doing all the teasing _._ Hopefully, he wouldn't ever find it, because her weak spot was _him._ As they walked through the streets, Sakura noticed that they'd have to part ways soon. "It was a good exercise today."

"Yeah. Naruto's face was hilarious when he found out about how I'd tricked him." Sasuke looked upwards in remembrance and released a small laugh. Sakura couldn't help but feel her eyes glued to him, trying her best to drill the image of him laughing; his eyes softened a bit, his mouth curled more on one side and his hands slightly tightened on his sides. Sensing her silence, he turned his gaze towards her and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I'd never seen you laugh before." Sakura blurted out before she could think about her words. Sasuke's eyes widened at her words and he looked at the ground for a moment before answering.

"I… don't really laugh much." Sasuke said quietly and his tone made Sakura's heart clench. He was _so_ damn alone all the time. He had such a big burden to bear. Everyone who had even paid him any mind had either been fangirls, who only cared about his looks and last name, or people who looked up to him as an Uchiha and a shinobi with outstanding potential.

"Sasuke. If you ever want someone to simply hang out with, you can count me in. Or if you want to talk or if you need anything at all too. Not just training, you know?" Sakura tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, but the intensity in her eyes probably gave her away.

"I… Thank you. I'll keep it in mind." He nodded at her, waved goodbye and took the turn towards his apartment.

Sakura stood there on the crossroads looking at his retreating back. She was surprised to realize that, when he had answered her, he had seemed truly grateful. His eyes had actually softened when locking with her own, and she had felt _him_. The real Sasuke. The one she had fallen in love him the first time around. The one that was slightly distant after so much hardship and loneliness, but was kind-hearted and just. The one that hadn't been corrupted by Orochimaru's seal and the worlds twisted political schemes. Sakura looked down at her hand – the one he'd briefly held just an hour or two ago – and the memory brought the tingling feeling back to it. She remembered how he had laughed a bit and how her soul had seemed to explode at the sight.

Sakura quickly turned around and took the turn towards her parents' house. As she walked, she had to cover her face with her hands to hide the ridiculously wide grin that was spreading on her lips. Although her love for him had never ceased, it had somehow subsided and become number after everything she'd gone through. But now…

 _Damn it. I'm falling in love with him all over again._

 **A/N: Hello, dear readers! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Not** _ **much**_ **happened, but it's the build up for the chuunin exmans… which will be starting next chapter, by the way. Also, there were a couple hints that will be developing later on in the story and there was some character development between Sasuke and Sakura.**

 **I want to thank everyone who has reviewed or followed the story. Also, I'd be really thankful if you keep on giving me you input and impressions on this chapter** _ **and**_ **your expectations on the next one.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**


	11. First Phase

**CHAPTER 11**

"Hey guys." Sakura neared her two teammates, who were standing in front of the Academy. She had been late because she had played along for a while when Iruka casted a genjutsu on her. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's not like you to be late for something like the chuunin exams." Sasuke pointed out.

"Oh, it's just that Iruka came to me and tried to dissuade me." Sakura shrugged.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and snorted. "Yeah right, like you would step out of this." He said and walked into the building, followed by the rest of his team.

Sakura took a deep breath in and entered the building. There were only a couple important goals that she had settled since her arrival at this timeline. The first one would happen shortly; helping Sasuke avoid getting Orochimaru's cursed mark. She had been planning this day for a long time and felt that she had the upper hand. But, even though she knew that she'd be able to use her seal against Orochimaru if things didn't go as planned, she couldn't help but worry; it was a sannin that she would be up against after all.

They walked up the stairs until they arrived to the supposedly 'third' floor. It was such an obvious genjutsu, that Sakura was surprised that most applicants wouldn't realize it. Team t finally got to 'room 301' to find that there was some sort of commotion going on. Tenten was hit by two older Leaf shinobi, who were blocking to way into room 301. Sakura knew that it was all show and that Tenten was all right, but she walked to her to give her some moral support nonetheless. She had become friends with her in her past life and wanted to help her out.

"Are you all right?" Sakura asked as she kneeled next to her. Tenten turned her head to look at her with a raised eyebrow - they hadn't met yet, after all - but Sakura pulled her to her feet anyways.

"This is not the right place for little girls. Much less girls with ridiculous pink hair. You do know that you carry a target on you head, right?" one of the older shinobi laughed.

"Tch. Don't listen to him, Sakura." Sasuke came up to her from behind. "You do know that this isn't even the place we're supposed to be at. You are, after all, the best amongst us in genjutsu and analytical abilities."

"Yeah." Sakura said and watched Tenten go back to her team. Naruto furrowed his brows at Sasuke's words and Sakura pointed to the sign that had '301' written on it. "This isn't really the third floor; it's the second."

Everybody's eyes widened as the genjutsu was dispelled and the number '301' was replaced by '201'. One of the nins blocking the door smirked at Sasuke.

"Oh, so you brats spotted out illusion. You are quite the smart ones, huh? Let's see how you deal with this!"

The ninja launched at Sasuke and he jumped to aim a kick at him, but Lee moved at huge speed and caught both their attacks in his hands. Everybody was surprised by this and both ninjas retreated. Neji walked to Lee and reprimanded him for not keeping a low profile, as they'd agreed. Lee turned to Sakura and walked to stand right in front of her. She raised her eyebrows. _Oh, I remember this._

"You are Sakura, right ?" he smiled and pointed his thumb at himself. "My name is Lee. Please be my girlfriend! I'll protect you with my life."

Sakura's face was blank for a moment and then she sighed. She was about to reply, but someone spoke before she could.

"I don't think she needs any protecting." Sasuke said with a monotone voice and rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't asking you." Lee said, without breaking eye contact with Sakura. Sasuke grunted, clearly upset at being brushed off. "So, Sakura. What do you say?"

"Er…" Sakura smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I don't even know you."

"Oh." Lee straightened a bit. "So, maybe if we got to know each other…"

"Actually. I'm currently focusing on my shinobi career." Sakura said before he could speak any more. "So I will put any romantic relationships for later. Besides, I'm only thirteen."

"Hahahahaha! Well, that was expected!" Naruto laughed loudly and patted Sakura on the shoulder in a well-done-buddy manner.

Lee didn't say anything, but he seemed quite disappointed. Sakura would've felt sorry for him, but… honestly? Did he ever think that she would've agreed to that right after the first introduction?

"Hey, you. What's your name?" Neji approached Sasuke.

"It's common courtesy to first introduce yourself before asking a person's name. I'm not obliged to answer." Sasuke said smugly.

"Hey, guys, let's just get going." Sakura said.

She was followed by her team towards the staircase and they finally got to the real third floor. They were about to enter the hallway leading to the exam, when someone called up to them. They all turned to see Lee looking down at them from the fourth floor on the staircase.

"Hey, you. The one with an attitude." Lee pointed at Sasuke. "Fight me."

"Why would I do that?"

"I want to test out my strength… and prove myself to the beautiful lady next to you." Lee said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him and Lee turned to look at Sakura. He started blowing kissed her way and said that he loved her. Sakura felt her eye twitch in annoyance and she honestly didn't remember how she'd reacted to that last time around, but she could only wonder; he was kind of unnerving actually. Even Naruto and Sasuke seemed uncomfortable by his shameless display. When he seemed to be done with showing his interest in her, he turned to Sasuke once again and smirked. "Or could it be… that you're scared?"

Sasuke's eyes shone with the challenge and Sakura inwardly sighed at his ego. Naruto only stretched his arms and yawned in an overly fake manner, signaling that he was bored by the exchange. Sasuke and Lee started fighting and, obviously, Sasuke's ass got pretty much kicked since they were only using taijutsu. He also tried using his sharingan, but even though his eyes were fast enough, his body was not. Sakura was about to intervene when noticed that Lee was going to use a forbidden jutsu, but a huge red turtle appeared and caught Lee with a bandage and pulled him back. Sakura jumped to catch Sasuke before he crashed down on the floor and helped him sit down. On the other side of the room, Lee fell on his knees in defeat and regret after the turtle started lecturing him about how he wasn't supposed to use that jutsu unless absolutely necessary. It turned out that the turtle was Lee's sensei, Gai. Sasuke and Naruto were a bit crept out at how much the both of them looked alike and were appalled when he stated that he was as strong as Kakashi. After that, the both of them started making a scene about the power of youth, creeping both boys even further.

"W-what the fuck is wrong with them?" Naruto's voice sounded utterly surprised and he took a step back.

"They're complete freaks…" Sasuke deadpanned, but there was a slight twitch in his eye. He was obviously unsettled by the way both ninja related to one another. "I sincerely hope we don't end up using a mask like Kakashi by the end of next year…"

Sakura laughed at them, by now used to the green-suited shinobi's antics. "Let them be, guys. Let's just get going."

"Sasuke." Lee called and Sasuke turned to look at him above his shoulder. "I have to say that I'm not even the strongest in our team. You seem pretty arrogant and should know that you still have a long way to go."

"Ha! Sasuke, so much for being over-confident and such. I bet you are almost as bad as I am!" Naruto snorted. "Lee actually seems to be training much more than you are, huh?"

Sasuke didn't say anything, but Sakura noticed how he clenched his hands and his eyes darkened. She immediately understood how he was feeling. His drive to become stronger was immense and he had deep emotional reasons to do so. Since his clan got massacred, his whole life had been revolving around power and she could only imagine how frustrated he had to feel by the fact the Lee was stronger than him. _Lee_ of all people, who seemed almost like a clown for people who didn't know him. He clenched his eyes shut and Sakura threw a disapproving look at Naruto, who frowned and shrugged. Of course he didn't understand the depth of Sasuke's motivations.

"Sasuke." Sakura laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We've been genins for half a year now, right? Lee has been a genin for a year longer than we have, so you have to be patient. I've seen how much you've improved and I'm sure Kakashi also has. You will get there in no time. And, trust me; I know that you work very hard to get better. Don't punish yourself."

Sasuke looked up at her with a frown, but seeing how sure she looked about her statement seemed to put the Uchiha at ease. He slightly smiled at her and nodded, making Sakura feel butterflies in her stomach.

The three of them left the two bushy-eye browed ninjas in their imaginary sunset scenery and walked into the hallway. When they got to the end of it, they found Kakashi standing in front of the door. He explained that he was proud that the three of them had decided to take the exam, since only teams of three were allowed to. He wished them good luck and poofed away from there. When Team 7 entered the room, they found that it was packed with shinobi. Most of them were at least a year or two older than them and there were even some that seemed almost adults.

"Sasuke-kuuuuun!" Ino appeared out of nowhere and she hugged Sasuke with all of her might. "Ohhh, I'm so glad that you're here! It's refreshing to see another attractive person in here – you know, besides myself."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Ino, don't be so invasive."

"Oh, forehead." Ino turned to Sakura. "It's good to see you. Too bad that you're not raising the average attractiveness of the crowd." She smirked and then looked around. "Err… well, maybe even _you_ can manage such a feat when surrounded by _these_."

"Good to see you, too. Pig." Sakura smirked and playfully hit her friend on the shoulder. It was always good to have Ino around, even if it was the thirteen year old version.

They were soon surrounded by the rest of the rookie 9 – Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Kiba and Shino. Shikamaru suspiciously watched Sakura for a couple seconds and then turned away to talk to Shino. Sakura frowned a bit at this, but didn't say anything. They all started talking about what they'd heard from other people about the chuunin exams. How a lot of people had died, how only a bunch of all of them in the room would pass, how intimidating most of the other applicants seemed.

Sakura soon stopped listening to them and started looking at the other participants, having a faint memory of most faces around her. When she was done assessing the competition, she frowned. She had a nagging feeling that something was off, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She had some memories about the exam from her past life, but she didn't recall all of the exact events; it had been at least 6 years ago, after all. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a loud outburst.

"AHHH!" Naruto yelled and turned to point at the silent audience. "All of you! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to kick your asses!"

"IDIOT!" Ino screeched and she forcefully tagged at Sakura's sleeve. "That dumbass over there is your friend, right? Make him shut the hell up!"

"I guess I should do that." Sakura sighed and walked up to Naruto. "Naruto, you might get us in trouble. Don't pick a fight when we _most definitely_ don't need one."

"They seem so full of themselves. I was just-" he was about to say something else but stopped when he noticed Sakura tense.

Sakura sharply turned around to face the crowd when she felt a killing intent nearing them. Her sharp eyes caught a blur approaching them and she positioned herself in front of Naruto. She didn't remember him getting attacked on this part of the exam, so she was overly cautious. Suddenly, she heard kunai cutting the air and she pushed Naruto away from the attack. He landed on his butt at least a couple meters behind and looked up in confusion at Sakura and the rookie nine that were now surrounding him. Sakura, who was still in the front, had stepped away from the attack and growled. In the blink of an eye, another foreign ninja was in front of her and aimed a punch at her jaw. Sakura used some of her enhanced speed and jumped back, dodging the punch. She felt the air around her twist in a weird manner and swore, only now remembering _who_ these ninjas were. She could've dodged the macabre manipulation of the sound waves, but she would've had to use much more power than she should've had and they were all certainly being watched by jonin and ANBU. So, Sakura took the invisible blow and landed on her feet right in front of Naruto. She looked up to notice that there were short pink hairs falling all around her; her enemy's punch hadn't connected with her jaw, but somehow it had managed to cut some of her already short hair.

"Not bad speed. But sadly not good enough." He said in a cruel tone as he towered in front of her.

"Wha-" she was about to speak when a sharp pain in her throat stopped her. She coughed and saw the blood on the floor at the same time that she tasted it on her mouth. She looked up to the nin in front of her, who she now recognized to be part of the sound village.

"Who are you?" Sasuke's voice was icy cold next to her as he took a hold of her arm. She looked at him and noticed that he was assessing her status as he stole quick glances of the enemy.

"We're genin from the sound village and we will be chuunin by the end of this exam." He smirked down at her. "You better tell your idiotic friend to stay out of our way, pinky."

"Tch." Sasuke was about to say something else, but Sakura took his hand in a firm hold and shook her head. Sasuke growled, but decided to drop it. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I already healed it."

Just then, Ibiki Morino appeared out of nowhere and harshly reprimanded them for fighting. He then instructed everyone to pick up a number from a box in the front.  
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto walked up to her. "Thank you!"

"Idiot. Do you see what your impulsiveness can cause?" Sasuke said in an upset tone. Naruto only then noticed the blood and bit his lip in obvious guilt.

"I'm sorry." Naruto looked down for a moment in slight shame. "How are you?"

"It's ok. I'm all right. Just be more careful next time. Now, we have to go pick a number. We're definitely passing this exam." She smiled at him.

Naruto beamed at Sakura and gave her a tight bear hug. Sakura relished in the feeling of her friends arms around her for a moment and then they all picked a number, which turned out was the position in which they'd have to seat. It turned out that Sakura was seating next to Sasuke and Naruto was two rows ahead of them. Sakura had to laugh a bit at the face Naruto did when he heard the first part would be a written exam. When Ibiki mentioned that they would be scored as a team, Sasuke flinched a bit and grunted in annoyance. Of course he would, since he probably thought that they might fail because of the blonde.

When they were handed the sheets Sakura allowed her eyes to quickly check the questions. It was _absolutely_ obvious that they were expected to cheat in this exam. Sakura would even dare say that some jonin wouldn't be able to answer every one of them. It was to be expected that mere genins would probably know maybe only a couple. She looked from the corner of her eye to see that Sasuke had a frown on his face, probably appalled that such difficult questions were being asked. Sakura remembered that, due to her exceedingly sharp memory and analytical mind, she had been able to answer most questions last time around. She smirked; this time however, she knew the answer to all of them.

Sakura laid the pen down when she finished scribbling down the answers after a couple minutes. She looked up to see that a lot of the examinees had been kicked out because of copying in a too obvious manner. Sakura looked as Sasuke and saw that he was gaping at her. He quickly realized that he wasn't supposed to be watching her during the exam, so he averted his eyes and stole a couple short glances her way. Sakura smugly smiled at him – shamefully proud that she had impressed him – and moved her hand away so that he could watch her sheet. He smirked back at her and turned on his sharingan. He stole a quick glance at her answers for a fraction of a second and then looked back at his own sheet. He started writing down what his eyes had impeccably caught.

Sakura turned to look back at Naruto. He was practically pulling the hair out of his head, probably distressed about not knowing any answers and seeing that many applicants were writing down at a steady pace. Sakura fondly smiled at her friend, knowing that he was too naïve and too correct to attempt to copy at all. Next to him was Hinata, who was looking his way every now and then, probably expecting him to copy off her.

"Ahem."

Sasuke's soft fake-cough brought her out of her thoughts and she turned to look at her raven haired teammate from the edge of her sight. He slightly jerked his head towards Naruto, signaling that he wanted to give him a hand. Sakura sighed. She knew that she couldn't just tell him that it wasn't necessary for Naruto to know the answers. She wasn't even supposed to know that piece of information. Also, she supposed that this thirteen year old Naruto wouldn't even be able to pick up on whatever they wanted to tell him. And so, she found herself going along with Sasuke's ideas.

They tried to get his attention for minutes, to no avail. Sasuke even tried using morse code, but Naruto didn't notice. He was so engrossed in his own worries that wasn't even trying to find a plausible solution for his predicament. In the end, they decided to stop their attempts, seeing that it was no use.

When there was only around two thirds of the initial number of candidates, Ibiki announced that he would give the tenth question. He also informed them that, if they chose to hear it and failed, their whole team would be disqualified from the exam and banned from ever participating again. Most genins froze at that and a bunch of them dropped out at the prospect of being genin for the rest of their lives. After a while, Naruto stood up and slammed his hand on the table.

"Damn it! Don't take me for a coward!" he yelled. "I'll become Hokage even if I'm still a genin!"

His outburst seemed to give hope and determination to the rest of the applicants, because no one else left the room. In the end, Ibiki smirked and announced that all of them had passed the exam. He explained that the first part was meant to test their abilities at intel gathering and the second one to test their guts. Suddenly, Anko came in through the window in a flashy appearance and announced that she would be the proctor for the second phase of the exam.

However, Anko's voice blurred into the background for Sakura as she looked around once again. There is was. That nagging feeling. Sakura frowned for a moment and then her eyes widened in realization. She had unconsciously known it since soon after entering the exam room, but hadn't consciously realized it until now. It was a twist in events that she had never guessed she would encounter. It was a slight change that could mean nothing, but could also mean _so damn much_. It probably did mean terrible news. The awareness of it made her blood run cold and her body tense so much that her nails dug into her palms until they bled. She double and triple checked her surrounding _and_ her recent memories, but there was no denying it anymore.

Kabuto had not attended that year's chuunin exam.

 **A/N: There goes the 11th chapter. It was a bit shorter than usual, but I think the last part was pretty revealing. I'm not saying why though, it'll spoil the story for you guys!**

 **As always, thank you so much for reading, reviewing and following! I** _ **always**_ **appreciate both your support and constructive criticism.**


	12. Forest of Death

**CHAPTER 12**

Team seven walked through the trees of the Forest of death. It was no wonder that it was called that, since it was actually pretty creepy. The trees had grown so close together, that barely any sunlight passed through the dense crowns. There were all kinds of wild animals roaming around and under the huge roots that had grown above the ground were countless insects. However, Sakura could not care less about any of that.

Her mind was filled with worries about the fact that Kabuto hadn't appeared at the exam site. She had actually considered dropping out of the exam to protect her teammates. However, she had decided not to for two reasons. First of all, if she dropped out after passing the first phase it would draw unwanted attention. Secondly, she had concluded that if Orochimaru was really after Sasuke - or anyone for that matter - he would find him anyways.

So now that she was in the middle of the second phase, she was feeling more on edge than before. They bad been roaming around for almost half a day and hadn't encountered anyone at all. Sakura didn't really remember if they had faced anyone by this time in her past life. It was mostly general memories that she recalled. She wondered if they would find Orochimaru at first or another team. If they came across another team first and they had the other scroll, she would at least feel somehow relieved and would be able to focus on Orochimaru only.

"It'll soon be dawn. We should find somewhere to spend the night." Sasuke said after another couple minutes.

"Yeah." Naruto said and Sakura silently nodded.

They looked around for a while and finally found a place that was well enough hidden. It was a small spot that was under a sort of rock that covered some bare ground. The place under it would be at least 2 meters high and 2 meters deep. I was a bit narrow, so they would have to sleep closer than usual, but the cover it provided was worth it. If an enemy managed to spot them, they would have to leave the place as fast as possible so that they didn't get cornered. They would have to set up some booby traps to slow them down and get alerted of their presence.

"I'll set booby traps." Sasuke informed.

"I don't think we should separate." Sakura objected. "A hidden enemy might take that chance to attack."

"Hmmmm." Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I know! Let's just do everything together!"

"Oh. That's so ingenious, Naruto." Sasuke sarcastically remarked and rolled his eyes, but there was a small smirk on his lips.

"I know, right?" Naruto smiled. Sasuke snickered a bit and Naruto's smile dropped. "Hey!"

"Guys." Sakura giggled. "Let's just go get some fire wood."

The tree of them walked out of their hiding spot and into the trees around them. They started picking up sticks and thin branches, since they wanted the fire to build up fast and last for a short time. If it burnt up slow they would take too long to eat and if it lasted too long they would be too exposed. Ten minutes later they had gathered enough sticks and headed back. However, as they neared their hiding spot Sakura sensed a couple foreign chakra signatures around the spot. She inwardly thanked her heightened sensing abilities, because they had masked their chakra almost perfectly. They were good. Sakura quickly took a couple steps until she was standing right next to Naruto and behind Sasuke.

"Careful." She whispered in a low voice, so that only they would be able to hear her out. "We have company, but don't let them know we're aware."

"So." Sasuke spoke up in a normal voice. "Wanna go set booby traps around?"

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered with an overly wide smile and Sakura inwardly sighed at his horrible lying abilities.

Their opponents were probably waiting for them to set the traps and get to their hiding spot. It would allow them to bypass the traps and trap them inside. It was a good plan. As the Team Seven moved around the edge of their camp 'looking for good spots to put the traps', Sakura slowly approached the chakra signature that was the most hidden. It must've belonged to a strong genin, probably stronger than Sasuke and already on chuunin level.

Sakura quickly eyes her teammates to make sure that their guards were up and then launched a kunai towards where the unknown ninja was hiding. As the kunai made contact with the tree trunk, the explosive tag attached to it was set off. A tall shinobi jumped out of the trees and into the clearing, escaping the blast.

"Well, well. It seems that we were spotted." He smirked. He was a slightly older teen – probably around 16 – and had a Kusagakure headband tied to his head. Sakura quickly eyes to her right and noticed that the rest of the opposing team had also revealed themselves and were standing in front of their teammates.

"Too bad I'm a good sensor." Sakura smirked and crouched, getting ready for battle.

The foreign nin jumped at her with a tanto sword and Sakura had to do a number of backflips to properly dodge his attacks. She landed a couple meters away from him and took out some shuriken that had strings attached to them. She threw them towards some trees that were behind him and, as soon as they hit their target, Sakura pulled at the string. Her opponent widened his eyes at her unexpected trick and tried to get out of the way, but it was in vain.

In the blink of an eye, he was tangled up in the net of strings that Sakura had produced. Sakura noticed that he managed to free the hand that was holding his weapon and was going to cut through the strings. She decided that the safes option was to help one of her teammates to lower the number of enemies for sure. Sakura flash stepped towards where Naruto was not far from there, who was battling with taijutsu – using his shadow clone jutsu, of course. His enemy wasn't having too much of a hard time dispelling them, since Naruto actually wasn't too good on hand to hand combat. Sakura quickly appeared from behind Naruto's opponent and chopped the back of his head in a second. The older teen dropped down to the ground in a second, unconscious.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto smiled and she waved him off as her original adversary was aiming a kick at her side once again.

"Go help Sasuke!" Sakura noticed his reluctance. "Do it!"

Naruto growled a bit, clearly wanting to help her out, but ran towards their other teammate. Sakura quickly checked on Sasuke, who didn't seem to be having any trouble, but didn't appear to have an upper hand either.

"Well, Pinky. It seems that you're good on long range battle tactics. Let's see how you deal with hand to hand combat." The older nin smirked and Sakura mirrored his expression.

 _Oh, he didn't know what he was getting into._

Sasuke dodged another punch that was aimed at his jaw and counterattacked with a kick to the gut, which was blocked. He clicked his tongue and jumped back a couple meters. He smiled and lifted his hands to do a fire ball jutsu… but stopped with a deadpan once he saw Naruto standing right in front of him.

"Don't worry, Sasuke! I'll help you out!" Naruto screamed and jumped at Sasuke's opponent with a bunch of clones, which were dispelled one after the other.

The real Naruto came at him with a strong punch but decided to take the hit that was aimed at him. He caught the enemy's hand in a firm hold and looked at Sasuke though narrowed eyes. Sasuke immediately got the message and jumped back at them. He punched the wide-eyed ninja straight in the jaw, and the strength rendered him unconscious.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto punched the air. "That's what you get for messing with us!"

Sasuke smirked a bit at his antics and looked at Sakura, who was standing on the other side of the clearing. She had tied each shinobi down with thin gum strings in a manner that would ensure they wouldn't break free for at least a couple hours. He almost flinched when he saw the huge bruise that was forming on her opponents jaw. She turned to look at him and smiled, doing a thumbs up at him.

"Good work guys." Sakura cheered. "Too bad, though; they had a heaven scroll too."

"Damn." Naruto deflated at the news.

"Naruto." Sasuke turned to the blonde. "Can you send a clone to drop these guys somewhere else?"

"But… what about when they wake up? They'll be trapped for days." he frowned.

"You should know that this kind of strings stretch slowly. They should be able to break free by tomorrow." The raven haired said with a sigh.

"Oh, all right then." Naruto said and put his hands together. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" three other Narutos appeared and left the clearing, carrying the enemy nins away.

The three of them realized that their firewood was still lying around and they hadn't hunted anything. So, they walked around the surroundings of their hiding spot settling booby traps to catch any other ninja that tried to attack them. When they were certain that no one would be able to enter without them knowing beforehand, they went back to their spot.

"Naruto, can you have your clones and hunt something for dinner on their way back?" Sakura asked and Naruto nodded.

He then roamed around for a bit searching for a couple stones and then set them in a circle so that the sticks wouldn't fall apart. Sakura bent down and started getting the fire wood together. When she was finished and had settled it inside the rock circle, she walked towards Sasuke who was standing not far from her.

"Hey, can you light up the fire please?" She asked him and he nodded. Sasuke walked towards where the firewood was and bent down. As he did, Sakura's sharp observation skills picked up the slightest flinch in his eye. He made the hand signs of a small fire jutsu and then blew flames into the wood, successfully lighting them up. Sakura was by his side in a second, put a hand on his shoulder and spoke on a low voice. "Are you injured?"

Sasuke flinched a bit and looked around to see that Naruto was minding his own business – skinning a rabbit for dinner – and looked back at Sakura.

"It's nothing, just a small gash. Nothing to worry about." He waved her off.

"Don't give me that. I don't mind taking a look and it's better to make sure, right?" She said and he turned to complain but she raised a defying eyebrow at him. "Be responsible with your own health, Sasuke. We're in the middle of the chuunin exams."

"Okay." Sasuke sighed in defeat. Sakura was about to take a closer look when he raised an open palm to stop her. "But after dinner. I don't want Naruto to see this."

Sakura looked at him with a straight face for a couple seconds and then she understood why he wanted it that way. Neither of the other two was in need of any medical attention and Sasuke didn't want to seem weaker. If it was up to Sakura, she'd say that he was actually competing with the blonde. Just like old times. Sakura giggled a bit and Sasuke averted his eyes in a slightly shy manner, knowing that he'd been busted. Sakura swore that there was a tiny blush on his cheeks, but it was gone as soon as it came.

"Guys, come here." Naruto called. "Pick up whatever parts you want."

Sakura turned around wordlessly and crouched next the blonde. He had already taken his share and was putting it to roast over the fire. She picked up a couple meat pieces and pierced them with a thick wooden stick that was around. Sasuke came after her, set up his own and walked back to the fire. They all gathered around the fire and waited for their meal to be ready.

"So, how are we going to do this? I think we just have to find any team, we'll certainly defeat them!" Naruto said as he bit down on his meat.

"I think the best course of action would be to try to find another team near the tower. Probably every one of them will head that way sometime and it'll be convenient to be close to the ending point once we're done." Sasuke said.

"I agree." Sakura said as she mindlessly munched on her own food. She wanted to avoid the place where they'd encountered Orochimaru, but she believed that it wouldn't really make a difference. Also, she didn't remember the exact location where he had attacked, so it wasn't any use to worry about that.

"Sakura you really beat the crap out of those ninjas." Naruto pointed out.

"Yeah. I've been training a lot." She smiled.

"Chakra control, huh?" Sasuke added. "I don't think I'll ever have enough of it to pull out an attack like that one and step out with enough chakra to keep on fighting."

"Well, I don't think I'll ever be able to do that attack. But I don't know… I've never really worried about running out of chakra during a fight." Naruto scratched his chin. "I don't think I ever have."

" _Everyone_ has a limited amount of chakra, Naruto." Sasuke said.

"Maybe Naruto has higher chakra reserves than the both of us." Sakura said, knowing that his huge amount of chakra was due to the kyuubi. "I've read about some ninja that have huge reserves and don't break a sweat when using a lot of it."

"Of course. But we do know that only happens with _years_ of practice and experience." The raved haired added. "I don't think Naruto is one of them."

"Hey! I can make a lot of shadow clones and I never get tired." Naruto puffed his chest in pride.

"That's true…" he trailed off.

"Hey, let's decide who's taking first watch." Sakura said and she eyed Sasuke with a raised eyebrow that said _you still need to be healed._

"I don't mind taking first watch." He mumbled.

"All right! I'll take second watch." Naruto said and, after making sure there were no objections, stood up. "I'll go straight to bed."

He walked towards the hidden spot under the rock and rolled his sleeping bag open. He looked back at Sakura, wondering why she wasn't going to sleep, and she simply brushed him of. He shrugged at her vague answer and laid down on his back. Not two minutes later, he was still as a stone and softly snoring. Sakura immediately turned her eyes to look at Sasuke, who was watching the coal.

"It lasted just enough for us to have dinner, huh?" Sakura said and moved to sit next to him.

"Hn." His eyes never left the almost black carbon.

"So…" Sakura began, hoping that he would get the point.

Sasuke wordlessly shifted and raised his shirt above his head to take it off. There was a not so deep gash on his left shoulder that had bleed a bit, but apparently not much, because his shirt had a rather small stain on it. Sakura walked closer to take a better look at the wound, but noticed that the color of his flesh was slightly off. If she had been a regular medic nin she would've missed the yellowish taint.

"Hey, have you been feeling ill?" Sakura asked and he turned to watch her for a moment. "You know, like headaches, nausea, dizziness."

"My head felt weird for a moment before."

"I knew I should've taken a look at this before." Sakura sighed. "That weapon was poisoned."

"Is it bad?" Sasuke frowned.

"I'll know in a second." Sakura said and moved to sit in front of him. She put her arms around him and moved her head closer to his wound. When she was almost touching the tender skin she inhaled deeply a couple times. "It's not dangerous, but we must remove the poison before it spreads any further."

"Ok."

"Er…" Sakura scratched her head in wonder. The regular shinobi means of treating poison was extracting it with chakra, but it was a quite advanced procedure. She knew that jonin and ANBU were watching the exam applicants at all times of the day, so she couldn't take any chances. She would have to do it the old fashioned way. "This might be a little uncomfortable for you."

"I know what you have to do. I don't mind." Sasuke shrugged.

Of course he didn't mind; he was Sasuke, a cool and collected shinobi. This only was a simple procedure for him and he probably would never give it another thought. On the other hand, Sakura was pretty much a perv in her own way – she had always blamed Naruto and Kakashi for that – so she _did_ mind. However, she obviously wouldn't let Sasuke know that her mind drifted that way. So, she moved to sit between his parted legs and leaned down on his shoulder. Sakura took a moment to calm her fast heartbeat down – in vain – and then took a breath in. She pressed her lips to his wound and he recoiled at the touch a little, but the immediately kept his stance straight. Sakura sucked on his wound and spit the acid tasting venom on the ground next to her. Sasuke didn't seem uncomfortable with her closeness and Sakura's inner danced around in circles in joy.

 _Oh, hell yeah! Love prevails!_

Sakura silently punched her inner quiet, but it was difficult to keep her naughty nature at bay. As she repeated the actions, she couldn't help but let some of her nineteen year old self take over. She softly took in his scent; he smelled like the humid trees of an old forest. The feel of his skin against her lips and the heat of his body radiating made her mind dazed. She had to force herself to concentrate on the task at hand and not get carried away by the tingling feeling in her stomach. She urged her eyes to stay focused on Sasuke's wound, because she would probably lose her mind if she took a look at his face. When she finally finished the horribly long process – at least it was to her – she put her hand on his shoulder. A green light surrounded her hand for a moment to heal the small gash and then she moved back. After doing just that, she noticed that there was a burning heat on the light skin of her cheeks. She quickly looked at Sasuke, hoping that he hadn't noticed her blush. To her relief, he was intently observing the burnt down coal.

"All done!" Sakura said and hurriedly looked away from him as she reached for her pouch. "You might still suffer some after effects of the poison, which could include slight faintness and some numbness on your shoulder. Take this pill, it'll help your body fight the substance and you'll be as good as new by morning."

"Thanks." Sasuke said and looked her way and took the pill from her hold.

"Hey." Sakura called after making sure that her blush was gone. "You should rely on your teammates."

"I do."

"I mean… don't carry any burdens by yourself. And I don't just mean injuries such as this one." She stopped and wondered how to address the subject without seeming suspicious. _If you ever get the cursed mark… if you ever think about deserting the village…_ "If you ever have any problems… or if there's anything on your mind… you should know that you can count on us. I know Naruto will be there for you as well. We are here to keep each other safe after all, right?"

"Why are pointing this out know?" Sasuke looked into her eyes curiously.

"I've realized that you usually keep things to yourself. I know that you have the right to; it's your own privacy after all. But know that it you ever come across something important and you need someone…" she trailed off.

"All right. Thank you, Sakura." There was a small smile on his lips.

"I'm going to get some sleep." She announced and waved him goodbye.

Sakura settled down on the narrow space that they had decided would be the sleeping spot and moved closer to Naruto, who was still slightly snoring. She felt his warmth surrounding her and she was reminded how lucky she was to have the both of them by her side. She was also thankful for Sasuke's slight changes of behavior. Where on her past life he would've been annoyed by her words, he had now seemed honestly thankful for her support. She didn't want him to feel alone and hoped that, in time, he would open up to her and tell her more about his feelings and worries. With those encouraging thoughts, Sakura closed her eyes and allowed sleep to take over.

Sakura was shaken awake by a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto's voice had her open her eyes and stare into his blue eyes. "It's your turn."

"All right. Thank you, Naruto. I'll take over watch duty, get some sleep." Sakura stood up and put on some warm clothes. She walked a couple steps towards the place where she would be sitting, when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Oi… I've been meaning to ask. You seemed quite distracted when the exam started. Is everything all right?" Naruto came to stand next to her.

"Oh." Sakura raised her eyebrows. She knew that Naruto was more observant than he usually let on, but she hadn't expected him to notice her weird behavior. She felt happy that he noted her worried state, but there was no way she could tell him that Kabuto – an S-rank enemy no one knew of – was not participating in the exam. "I was just a little worried about this phase… it's more dangerous than the last one. And this time we don't have Kakashi-sensei with us."

"Don't worry, Sakura. Didn't you see how good we did back there? There's no way anyone's defeating us in here!" Naruto grinned.

"I guess so." Sakura smiled back. _I hope you're right about that, Naruto._

"Good night." He waved and went to sleep.

Sakura sat down on the rock from where she was supposed to keep watch and silently looked at the blinding darkness that stretched under the trees. She allowed her mind to half focus on keeping watch and half go through her memories of Orochimaru. She had some strategies thought out for when he approached – _if_ he did. How she would proceed if Sasuke received the cursed mark. How she would proceed if she managed to kill that snake. What she would do if he escaped.

As her thoughts kept her mind occupied, almost three hours passed in what had seemed half an hour for her. When it was the break of dawn, she woke her two teammates up and they picked out their stuff. They had a quick breakfast that consisted in some special energy bars that were especially made for travelling shinobi.

Ten minutes later, they were ready to go and picked up their stuff. Sakura stayed behind both of her friends, so that she could keep an eye on them. They walked through the forest for almost two hours, nearing the place where the tower was located at. At some point, Sakura noticed that the forest seemed much denser than before. It was practically a swamp and the tree trunks were so thick that she wondered if even three people together would be able to put their arms around them.

As they walked around trying not to step on the mud of the numerous wetlands, Sakura's shinobi alarms went off. She felt the tiniest chakra presence… it was so well hidden that it she hadn't gone through the war, not even her sannin senses would've been able to pick it up. It was almost inexistent and she'd actually almost disregarded the feeling as if it had been a slight shift in the atmosphere, but she knew better. That ability didn't belong to any genin or chuunin. Not even a jonin would be able to pull such a thing off. And that could only mean one thing; Orochimaru was there.

And there was no way she was going to let him lay a _damn_ finger on her precious people.

 **A/N: So, here goes another chapter. Next chapter will be a thrilling one. I hope that you enjoyed the preface to it.**

 **I always love to read your feedback! Thank you for your support!**


	13. The Snake Sannin

**CHAPTER 13**

Sakura had already determined that she didn't need to keep her strength hidden around Orochimaru. It was obvious that he had attacked at a spot where no one was able to watch them; he would've been found out last time otherwise. So she concluded that no one would see her true abilities… well maybe only her teammates. It was a dangerous assumption, but they would lose to Orochimaru otherwise. Sakura brought her attention back to the task at hand and closed her eyes for a moment to assess how close she'd felt the presence of the snake sannin. She finally decided that he was no further than 15 meters into the forest. It was a dangerously close distance for a shinobi of his caliber. She was about to open her mouth and tell her teammates to keep their guards up when she stopped dead in her tracks.

There was a second – and much stronger – shift in the atmosphere and she immediately knew that something was coming their way at great speed. Sakura barely managed to move aside from the huge wind attack that headed their way and had to use all of her chakra control ability to keep her feet glued to the ground. Because of how strong the wind was, she had to narrow her eyes almost to the point of completely closing them, so she could barely see around her. When the wind stopped and the dust cloud had cleared, Sakura moved her head around to look for her teammates. She gravely noticed that, even though Sasuke had managed to stay in place last time, neither him nor Naruto seemed to be around.

"Oh, you've been left all alone." A voice said from where the attack had come from.

Sakura turned around to face two young men she didn't recognize. They were wearing weird clothes that somehow reminded her of Orochimaru's. However, she immediately decided that she'd never felt their chakras before and therefore knew that it was not the snake sannin himself. Instead of helping her relax, the knowledge that her teammates were on their own and that Orochimaru was not with her made her panic. _I need to find them!_

Sakura was without a doubt going to ditch the two unknown shinobi as she turned to leave. In the blink of an eye, one of the men used an earth style jutsu and huge rocks appeared in front of her. She didn't waste another second and gathered her chakra to her fist before slamming it into the wall in front of her. As the rocks crumbled in around of her, Sakura dashed though the dust at top speed, but was forced to stop abruptly when she saw one of the nins in front of her. She felt the presence of the other one's chakra signature not far behind her and knew that she was surrounded.

"You're right to be scared, little girl." one of them, who was bald, grinned evilly. "That was a strong punch, but it won't help you when faced with the two of us."

"Fuck." Sakura cursed as she looked towards where her teammates were.

"Oh, you're worried about your friends?" the other one – who was wearing a weird hat - said in a mock sad tone and smirked. "They're already doomed."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and quickly assessed their strengths. She decided that they were around regular – maybe high – chuunin level. She had to get this over with as soon as possible so that she could go find Sasuke and Naruto.

She lifted her hands and used some of the gum string in her pouch to do a makeshift net. She jumped and swirled it around in the air. When she was on top of the bald nin, she released the strings and tried to tie him up to a tree behind him. He was tangled in the strings for a moment but quickly sliced through the net. As he stepped out, Sakura was already on him and aiming a punch at his gut. He widened his eyes at her glowing hand and managed to dodge just in time. Sakura's punch went straight through the tree breaking it in half. She noticed that the other nin was quickly approaching, so she picked up the trunk out of the ground and threw it at her enemies. They had been too close to her and didn't have enough time to dodge. The tree trunk hit them head on with full force.

"What the hell!" one of them moaned as he stood up.

Sakura was aware that she needed to save her chakra for later and since there was no water around, she immediately discarded using any water jutsus. She noticed that both shinobi were now standing next to each other. She quickly started making hand signs and slammed her hands on the ground.

"Doton: Doryū Taiga!"

A pool of mud appeared beneath them and they sunk into the ground. Sakura was already running at them full speed and punched her chakra enhanced fists towards their faces. The bald one was unlucky enough to be too slow and his jaw, cheekbone, and part of his skull broke with a loud _crack._ The other one dodged at the last minute and managed to pull himself out of the mud pool. Sakura landed a couple meters away on the other side and locked eyes with her now lone enemy.

"Who _are_ you? Aren't you supposed to be a genin?" he stammered.

Sakura paid him no mind and ran at him once again instigating a taijutsu battle. They exchanged a couple blows, but no one managed to lay a hit. In the end, Sakura grew impatient and heightened her speed using chakra. When he aimed another kick at her gut, she dodged at great speed and took a hold of his neck.

"Agh!" he shrieked in fear, but that didn't stop Sakura from slamming his head face first into the ground. He groaned in pain, but Sakura was not in a position to hesitate and took out a kunai, stabbing him on the back of the head.

She stood up and looked around for a moment, making sure that her two opponents were indeed down. After a couple seconds she concluded that they were both dead and she set off towards where she felt her teammates' presence. Sakura had always preferred to avoid killing enemies; she was a healer after all. However, after so many years of a career as a kunoichi and living though the fourth shinobi world war she had somehow hardened. She sometimes regretted it a little bit that she had turned out this way, but knew that it was expected considering her profession. Although, the main reason she had decided to kill without a second thought was that both her teammates were probably facing Orochimaru right now.

Not thirty seconds later, Sakura was stepping into a part of the forest in which the trees were especially overgrown. She immediately located her teammates. Not far from her, was an unconscious Naruto stuck to a tree by a kunai. On a further branch there was Sasuke with an anxious expression on his face and looking determinately at something to Sakura's right. It was none other than the snake sannin himself, grinning like a madman – as per usual. Sakura quickly jumped up to the tree trunk where Naruto was hanging from and stuck a hand and both feet to the wooden surface with chakra. She took the kunai out and caught her blond friend before he hit the ground.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled at her as her movements seemed to catch the other shinobis' attention. "Get the hell out of here!"

"Now, now. We were just having a little conversation here." Orochimaru smirked wickedly and licked his cheek with his ridiculously long and thin tongue.

As both engaged in a conversation once again, Sakura paid them no mind and laid Naruto down on a thick branch where he wouldn't fall off. She lifted his shirt to see that Orochimaru had placed a seal on top of his usual one, preventing him from using the Kyuubi's chakra. Thankfully, Sakura had already predicted this and made a few hand signs before placing her hands on the blonde's stomach. As Orochimaru's seal drifted away, she placed her hand on his temples and quickly healed his throbbing headache – a symptom of being abruptly cut off from such an immense chakra supply.

After properly laying him down, Sakura looked up to see that Orochimaru was in the middle of a one-sided conversation with Sasuke. The sannin was just telling him how advanced his abilities and doujutsu were for a genin and how interested he had become in him. Sakura smirked knowing that the snake sannin was too arrogant and over-confident and that he wouldn't have paid a _pink haired girl_ any mind. So, luckily for her, he hadn't noticed that she had undone his sealing technique on Naruto.

"I will leave you a parting gift." He smiled evilly and put his hands together in a seal.

Sakura immediately recognized what he was about to do and forced chakra to her legs. Within a few seconds she was standing a couple meters from Sasuke with a chakra fist. As Orochimaru's neck stretched and his fangs neared Sasuke, Sakura moved and punched the snake's head away with all she had. Oh, how she hoped that she had broken a bone or two – but she knew that he would be able to heal in no time. At least she had prevented him from giving Sasuke the cursed seal _for now_. She immediately moved to stand right in front of Sasuke and crouched in a defensive stance.

"Sakura!" Sasuke hissed from behind her. "You don't know what you're dealing with! There's no way we can defeat him. He's been playing around with me the whole time."

"Sasuke, I'm not leaving you here with _this madman_." Sakura growled, the hatred she had always felt towards Orochimaru, the man who had taken Sasuke away and destroyed him further, returning to her with full intensity as her hands began to tremble. Sakura took a deep breath to calm down, knowing that having a clouded head would only end up with her making a mistake.

"Oh?" Orochimaru came from behind a tree, his body in a whole piece once again. As she had predicted, he didn't show any signs of injuries. "Another strong genin. Thisis indeed an interesting team."

He was truly overconfident and clearly considered them just toys to pass his free time. Sakura snorted, he almost seemed to want to clap in honest joy. However, she inwardly smirked; she was counting on that.

"Sakura, let's get out of here…" Sasuke said in a low voice and gripped her forearm.

"Oh, but I still owe you that parting gift." Orochimaru said. "I have to say that I'm really interested in you."

"You won't lay _one_ finger on him." Sakura said. She wanted to use her seal _so badly_ in orderto properly fight him. However, she had decided to leave it as a last resort, because once she released it there was no turning back and she definitely wouldn't be able to hide it for long. Thankfully, she had another plan in mind and hoped that it would work.

Orochimaru laughed at her words and made a few hand signs. From behind him, a dozen snakes appeared and launched at the pair at full speed. Sakura and Sasuke dodged the attack towards opposite sides. Sakura saw, that before Sasuke even landed, Orochimaru was already jumping at him. Sakura pushed her feet against a tree trunk and, with help of her chakra, managed to dash through the air just in time to push Sasuke out of the way. Both came to land harshly on the ground and turned to watch Orochimaru again. He had used an earth jutsu and threw a great number of rocks towards them. Sasuke used his sharingan to quickly dodge while Sakura skillfully punched every rock that came her way, turning them into dust. She cursed under her breath when she realized that they were now surrounded by a cloud of dust and couldn't see anything.

"Sasuke!" Sakura whispered. "Can you see him?"

"Not yet." He whispered back. Just as he finished answering there was a slight disturbance in their surroundings. Sakura turned to look in the direction she had felt it from just as Sasuke yelled. "There!"

Orochimaru appeared from the cloud of dust right next to Sasuke, aiming a punch at his jaw. Sakura didn't even have time to worry, because her body moved on her own to protect him. The punch had been so strong, that it could've killed Sasuke by breaking his skull. As Sasuke was turning around to face the snake sannin, her body crashed into his as she punched Orochimaru. Both their fists crashed on each other with a loud _crack_ and they were sent flying backwards from the aftershock. Sakura collided with Sasuke who had been just behind her and they went flying into a tree. Sasuke hit the tree first and then Sakura slammed into him.

The force knocked the breath out of Sakura's lungs and both started falling towards the ground. Sakura glanced at Sasuke and saw that he was unconscious from the hit he had sustained - no wonder, the impact had been strong. She quickly took a hold of him just before landing and laid him on the ground. She quickly ran her chakra through him and sighed in relief when she felt that there was no damage to his head or spine. Sakura retracted her hands and winced when she felt her throbbing hand. The bones on the hand that had clashed with Orochimaru's fist were completely crushed and she quickly healed them.

She stood up and saw that the snake sannin was on top of a tree glaring down at her with slight amusement.

"You... you actually broke my hand." He raised an eyebrow at her and the skin of his hand melted away to reveal a healed one. "Hm… quite strong I must say."

Sakura struggled to keep a straight face and not smirk at him; she didn't want him to think that she was confident. She even tried to look slightly scared in his presence.

Sakura had already concluded that the only way she would have the slimmest chance of defeating Orochimaru was if she used poison, genjutsu and taijutsu. He was incredibly skilled at ninjutsu, so she had to prevent him from using it if she could, and his regeneration skills made him practically immortal. So, her whole strategy revolved around preventing him from using _chakra_.

She dashed towards him and gathered chakra to her fists. He narrowed his eyes at her - knowing that he shouldn't block her punches - and dodged the punch to his gut. Sakura immediately aimed a second punch at his shoulder and he dodged once again. He was incredibly fast and Sakura knew that she wouldn't be able to land a hit on him like this. It was a good thing that she wasn't actually trying to hit him. As Orochimaru began making hand signs, she covertly turned her body to the side as she charged another punch and quickly took a needle from her pouch. When she moved her closed hand towards his face he dodged again, but instead of punching him she threw a senbon needle at his shoulder. He had just used a summoning jutsu that sent numerous snakes her way. Sakura dodged most of them, but one managed to bite her shoulder.

"Agh!" Sakura complained as the both of them jumped away from each other.

She used her chakra scalpels to cut the reptilian off her and noticed that her chakra reserves were less than half by now. Knowing that she had little time to lose she turned to her opponent.

"You are no genin." He voiced his thoughts with a sly smile. "I'd even say that you're a high jonin ranked kunoichi. This is quite surprising, especially for a little girl."

Sakura would have been quite flattered that he considered her that strong even without her seal unleashed if it weren't for the fact that she had been bitten. In her past life she had developed a resistance to most poisons, but it had been a slow process and she hadn't been able to completely develop it this time. She knew that it was only a matter of minutes until she felt her body would start to feel numb. Thankfully, she had also poisoned him and with a rather strong toxin as well. It would affect him more than her and she hoped that it would level the ground to them. It was a poison meant to mess with the flow of chakra in his body and prevent him from properly using it for the next couple of hours. She was grateful that he still seemed too confident and was taking the fight pretty lightly. If he didn't, she would've been doomed without her seal.

Sakura quickly made a couple hand signs and casted a high level genjutsu, which drained a third of her remaining chakra. Orochimaru's gaze became slightly unfocused, meaning that he had been caught in it in the blink of an eye. The fact that he didn't excel at genjutsu didn't mean that he was _mediocre_ at all, so he would break out of it any moment now. Sakura took a second senbon and flung it towards his jugular artery, hoping that the poison would prevent him from using chakra as much as possible.

Orochimaru was stuck by the senbon just as he dispelled the genjutsu and he flinched at the feeling of the needle sticking out of his neck. He yanked it out just in time to dodge Sakura's punch. He aimed a kick at her gut, but she managed to block it. He quickly jumped back a couple meters and drew his kusanagi slashing at Sakura, who was attacking him yet again. Her chakra enhanced kick missed once again, but she managed to pierce him with a poisoned senbon once more. She jumped back just in time to avoid being cut in half, but his kusanagi cut a deep gash on her stomach.

Both of them jumped back to put some distance between them and their opponent. Sakura felt as her blood run down her stomach, drenching her clothes at a fast rate, and put her palm on top of her injury. She pumped just enough chakra to stop the bleeding and then launched at him once again.

Orochimaru must've noted that he had no longer access to most of his chakra, because he became furious and clearly decided to take the fight seriously. Sakura felt a shiver go down her spine at the look on his face and hesitated in the middle of her attack. It was only a fraction of a second, but it was certainly enough time for him to counterattack as he took hold of Sakura's arm, twisting her body around and slamming her on top of some roots sticking up from the ground.

" _What_ kind of poison is this?" he hissed as he used all of his body weight to hold her small body down.

Sakura could feel blood running down her face, which meant the impact on the rough surface had injured her face or head. She honestly couldn't tell, since the large amount of adrenaline running through her blood prevented her from feeling most of the pain. She gathered more chakra to her arms and used all of her strength to break out of his hold. He was physically stronger than he looked as she had expected – she had to grant him that – but thankfully not as strong as she was when she used chakra.

Within a split second, Sakura had forced him to release her and was standing at least a dozen meters away. His closeness had left her with a nauseating feeling and a chill on her skin that was hard to shake. Sakura quickly noted that less than a quarter of her chakra remained and cursed under her breath. She needed to finish this quickly or she would be forced to use her seal… which would only create more trouble in the future.

As Sakura and Orochimaru were glaring at each other, both thinking of a way to defeat the other, a huge surge of evil chakra suddenly surrounded them. Sakura felt her body tense and looked to where the great force was coming from. She felt partially relieved and partially worried at what she saw.

"Sakura!" Naruto had unleashed the Kyuubi's chakra. "That bastard hurt you!"

Sakura suddenly realized that she must've looked pretty banged up, since her midriff was soaked in blood and her face was bruised. Naruto seemed to lose control of himself and, within a second, three chakra tails had formed behind him. Orochimaru hissed at the sight of the demon fox jinchuriki and glanced back at Sakura once more. He certainly knew that he couldn't use most of his ninjutsu techniques by now and it would be incredibly reckless to fight the Kyuubi using only hand to hand combat.

Naruto had his eyes trained on Orochimaru and growled before dashing towards him at an inhuman speed. Orochimaru managed to dodge the charging Naruto and jumped into the air. As he descended, the snake sannin made a few hand signs and Sakura immediately recognized the transportation jutsu. It was unfortunate that he was leaving, because she estimated he had very little chakra left which would have given them the upper hand. Before Sakura could try to find a way to prevent him from escaping, Orochimaru poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

"ARRRRGHHH!" Naruto launched himself towards the place where Orochimaru had just been standing at and slashed in rage at the now empty space.

He began falling towards the forest floor at an alarming rate. Sakura quickly devised a plan to force the kyuubi's chakra back into the seal and gathered a great amount of chakra into her fist. She slammed her fist onto the ground where Naruto was meant to land. The ground cracked at least five meters deep and Sakura inwardly wished that she was capable of using wood style techniques to hold Naruto down. Sakura jumped into the hole and hid her presence to the best of her ability. Naruto soon landed in the deep crevice of rock and the resulting impact shook the ground with great force.

"AAAAAGH!" he screamed in rage at the fact that his prey had escaped. Sakura quickly approached the blonde, who was coated in a layer of orange bubbly chakra and had glowing animalistic eyes. Before he could figure out what she was doing, Sakura gathered chakra on her fingertips and molded it into a chakra-suppressing seal on her palm. Naruto turned around when he felt her chakra, but it was too late. Sakura's hand slammed on his forehead and he was pushed back.

As the kyuubi's chakra receded, Sakura panted and felt a little lightheaded from both the snake's poison and the onset of chakra exhaustion. After a couple of seconds, the evil chakra was gone and Sakura flung Naruto over her shoulder. She brought them out of the hole and walked to where she had left Sasuke before. Sakura noticed that he was still unconscious and laid Naruto next to him. When she did, she realized that his body had been burnt by the use of the kyuubi's chakra. Sakura noted that she had only a tiny bit of chakra left, but there was no way she was going to leave him like that. After all, if an enemy came by she wouldn't be able to protect them anyways and it was a good idea to make sure at least one of them was in good shape. What if Orochimaru came back now while she was in this state and tried to mark Sasuke? She wouldn't dream of giving him the chance.

Sakura's hands glowed green as they passed above his burnt body, healing the red skin back to its normal color, and she prayed that he would wake up soon so he could watch over her and Sasuke. As she did that, Sakura felt her head pounding and noticed that her sight was becoming blurry, but she used every bit of her nearly drained chakra on Naruto. He stirred a bit and groaned, but he finally opened his eyes.

"Sakura-chan?" he asked groggily. "What happened?"

Sakura wanted to tell him that they were safe for now, but her body failed her and her vision became dark. She heard Naruto say something in the background, but she couldn't make out the words, so she simply allowed the darkness to take her.

 **A/N: So.. here it goes. This was an action filled chapter in which the first major change happened. Yes, in case you didn't notice, Orochimaru wasn't capable of giving Sasuke the cursed mark. Yet. You will have to find out later what happens.. so yeah.**

 **FIRST OF ALL I want to thank my new beta reader MonochromeAce for helping me out with grammar and such! Thank youuu!**

 **I also want to thank all of you for reading, reviewing and following. Your support really motivates me to write more and sooner.**

 **I also want to thank NarutoxHonoka for giving me a couple hints on Orochimaru… I really was clueless about how anyone could stand up to him without the sharingan.**

 **Please let me know what you think about this chapter!**


	14. Earth Scroll

**CHAPTER 14**

 _Sakura woke up to a maniacal and malicious laughter on the background. She jerked up into a sitting position and looked around frantically. She was in the middle of a forest with trees so large, not even a fraction of the sky could be seen from between the treetops._

" _AHAHAHAHA!"_

 _Sakura sharply turned her head to look towards the direction where she had heard the voice. She didn't see anyone there, but it made sense because it echoed in a way that suggested that the owner of the voice wasn't close. Sakura frowned a bit and stood still for a moment deciding what she should do. In the end, her curiosity got the best of her and she headed towards the laughter. After a while, the foliage cleared a bit and she managed to see a sight that chilled her to the bone._

 _Sasuke was clutching at the hand around his neck while his legs dangled in the air. The hand belonged to none other than Orochimaru, who was laughing hysterically at the genin's failed attempts to break free of his hold. Sasuke thrashed and twisted, trying to lay a kick on the sannin, but to no avail. Apparently, he noticed that someone else was present, because he turned to look at Sakura. His eyes met with hers and she was struck by how deeply terrified he seemed._

" _Sakura!" his horrified expression made her stomach clench in distress. "Help me!"_

 _With those words, she was broken out of her reverie and launched towards their location. Sakura ran full speed, her legs working to the point of pain, but she didn't seem to be getting any closer. As she ran, the forest between her and Sasuke seemed to stretch further and further. No matter how much she ran the distance between them didn't change!_

 _Orochimaru turned to briefly look her in the eye and smirked viciously. Sakura just_ knew _that he was mocking her for her futile attempts at helping the young Uchiha. Suddenly, the snake sannin opened his mouth more than should've been humanly possible and two fangs came into view._

" _NO!" Sakura yelled just before Orochimaru bit down on Sasuke's neck._

 _Orochimaru looked up at her once more as he kept his teeth rooted into Sasuke's skin and then let the boy fall to the ground before melting away. Sasuke landed with a thud and started shaking. Sakura was somehow able to reach him and raised his body to lean him on her chest. He was having such a terrible convulsion, that she was barely capable of keeping him in place._

" _Sasuke! Listen to me!" Sakura called to him in desperation. However, the shaking didn't subside and Sakura noticed that her chakra was suddenly unavailable. She couldn't heal him without it! He was clearly not reacting well to the cursed seal. She had to do something!_

 _Abruptly, Sasuke's shaking stopped and Sakura knew that such fast changes never meant anything good. She looked down at him and noticed that he was holding his throat in a tight grip. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times trying to breathe but failing. His black terrified eyes met with Sakura's emerald ones and she held his free hand tightly. She knew there was something that she could do, even without chakra… but she couldn't_ fucking _remember! She was probably the best medic nin after Tsunade, yet she couldn't remember how to help Sasuke!_

" _Sasuke!" she choked between tears._

 _The young teen's eyes started losing focus and the grip of his hand on his neck loosened. Sakura shook him a bit, trying in vain to keep him awake. Slowly, his already pale skin turned even paler, to the point that it became_ white. _Sakura's hands trembled as she held her loved one tightly to her chest. First she had allowed Sasuke to die in the Fourth War. She had watched him bleed to death, because he hadn't wanted to live like that and she hadn't known how to convince him otherwise. Now, when Sasuke had asked for her help with pleading eyes, she had done nothing. She had simply stood there and watched him die._

 _Sakura watched in shock as Sasuke stopped breathing and his hand dropped to the ground next to him. She looked back into his unblinking eyes and knew that she had failed. Again. He was dead._

" _No, Sasuke! Not again!" she yelled between sobs. "Don't do this! No!"_

Sakura jolted awake and sat up sharply. The first thing she discerned was that her head was throbbing like hell and her mouth was incredibly dry. Also, there was a generalized pain on her face and abdominal area. Her breathing was ragged and her whole body felt sticky. With wide eyes she looked around and saw that Sasuke was sitting right next to her. Alive.

"Sasuke!" Sakura said and wrapped her arms around him without thinking twice. "You're all right!"

"Hn." Sasuke answered shorty, but Sakura could tell by his rigid posture that he was slightly taken aback by her sudden display of physical affection.

She quickly retracted her arms and intently observed him trying to locate any wounds sighing in relief when she found none. Sakura looked around and saw that they were in some sort of cave and that it was night.

"What happened? Where are we? Where is Naruto? Does anyone need to be healed?" Sakura said without taking a single breath in and moved to stand up.

"Stop. Stay still." Sasuke _scolded_ and she suddenly felt thirteen again – truly thirteen. "Naruto woke me up when you were already unconscious, so we decided to find shelter. We've been here since yesterday at noon and you've been unconscious all this time. Naruto is asleep right now and I'm taking the second watch. Also, healing somebody else? Are you an idiot? Have you taken a look at yourself?"

At his words, Sakura lowered her gaze and then quickly assessed her own body. Her face was swollen and there were sharp pains here and there, meaning that she had not only bruises but other wounds as well. However, someone had already properly cleaned and bandaged the wounds on her face. In addition, her upper stomach was hurting as well from the wound that Orochimaru had inflicted on her and that she had barely healed.

"Who cleaned my wounds?" Sakura pointed to her face.

"I did. Don't you think the dobe would've screwed up at least a bit?" he half joked.

"Thank you." Sakura smiled and Sasuke returned a small one. Her heart almost stopped at the sight. "Well, my stomach it not in bad condition. I just need to heal-"

Her words were cut short by a barely audible crack at the entrance to the cavern. Sasuke quickly stood up and motioned for her to sit down once again. He swiftly and silently bounded to the opening of the cave and looked out for a long time. Sakura's heartbeat was erratic. Was it Orochimaru? Had the poison already left his system? The chakra draining effect was meant to last at _least_ a couple of days, so he shouldn't be… but her estimate could be off in his particular case. He was one of the strongest shinobi alive, after all. Sasuke turned around and walked back to her.

"All clear. It was just a bird."

"Are you sure?" Sakura frowned and looked back towards the outside with a frown.

"No one can fool my eyes." He said reassuringly. Sadly, this did nothing to make Sakura's worries go away. "So, can you heal it?"

"I have only recovered a small part of my chakra, but it is enough to treat this." Sakura said and looked down to her blood stained shirt, which was now sticking to her wound. "Why didn't you clean this one? The fabric is now stuck to it."

"Tch. The dobe." Sasuke clicked his tongue. "He kept blabbering about how we couldn't trespass on your privacy as a girl and such. I didn't think it mattered, especially given the circumstances… Right?" he trailed off a bit, silently asking her opinion on the matter – probably wanting to know in case something like this happened again in the future.

"Of course. We are shinobi; there's no room for such doubts when it comes to an injury." Sakura answered. She had always thought that way in every mission she had been at in her past life. Still, this was _Sasuke_ and he would always be different to her. However, Sakura didn't want him to find out that she cared, so she sighed and took a hold of the hem of her shirt. She slowly tugged it upwards wanting to reveal her wound, but the fabric was incredibly stuck to her wound. After all, it had been over 12 hours since the fight. "Ah-."

"Here, let me." Sasuke said and pushed her hands back to her sides.

Sakura wordlessly allowed him to and wondered if he would've ever offered to help with that in her past life. She watched intently as he took out a canteen and poured water over her shirt, right where the injury was. He softly rubbed his hand on top of her stomach to make sure that the wound became moist. He then leaned closer so that he would have better access when detaching the fabric from her wound. One of his hands started tugging at the edge of her shirt and the other sneaked under her clothes to help separate it from her skin.

If Sakura's mind hadn't been flooded with worries about Orochimaru coming after them, she would've been quite flustered at their interaction. She would've shivered at the feel of his hands working under her shirt and at his closeness. But it wasn't the case. Sakura's eyes kept darting from Sasuke's hands to the entrance of the cave, her muscles tense and ready for battle if necessary. Finally, the shirt detached from her injury and Sasuke raised it up to her ribs.

"There."

"Thanks." Sakura said and started cleaning and healing her wound without a second thought. As her hands glowed green on top of her stomach she sighed. "I'm sorry that I've been keeping the three of us stuck here."

"Don't be. You saved us back there." Sasuke waved her off and then seemed to hesitate for a moment. "He was incredibly strong. How did you even defeat him?"

"I didn't. He was beating the crap out of me – as you can see – and then he suddenly decided to leave."

"What? Why would he do that?" Sasuke furrowed his brows.

"Who knows." Sakura shrugged at his question and then pushed her shirt down. She put her chakra coated hands to her head to try to lessen the headache that was washing over her once again due to her usage of chakra and the remaining after effects of the snake poison. "I just hope that he doesn't come back soon. I can't fight like this."

"If he does, or anyone else for that matter, then Naruto and I will do the fighting." Sasuke answered and Sakura opened her mouth to protest, as expected, but Sasuke cut her off. "It's already been decided."

Sakura didn't say anything else and watched him for a second. His obsidian eyes were slightly brightened by the moonlight streaming into the cave and Sakura couldn't help but feel out of breath at the sight. If she hadn't been soaked in dried blood and sweat, the scene would've been almost romantic. He didn't seem to think anything of her silence, because he finally stood up, turned away from her and started walking out of the cave.

"Get some sleep. You aren't taking any shifts tonight." He said and walked away from her. Sakura laid back down and looked towards the entrance of the cave a couple times, fearing that Orochimaru would find them while she slept. Despite her worries, she fell asleep in a minute, exhaustion taking over her once again.

Sasuke sat down on a rock at the entrance of the cave and watched the surrounding forest with a straight face and a hand on his kunai. He had been feeling quite perplexed with Sakura's reaction during the fight with that _freak –_ whoever he was. Her willingness to stand in front of him and fight _instead_ of him had almost been as unexpected as the older nin's presence. When had she become so protective of him? Of course, he had known Sakura for a while now and he already knew that she had a habit of putting others before herself. However, this had been _different._ It was as if she had expected something terrible to happen to him if she didn't step in. She had seemed so adamant on protecting him that it had shocked him to the core. He had never seen her act like that, not even during their fight with Zabuza.

Sasuke had been born and raised in a conservative clan and it was normal for males to dominate and protect females. So, on one hand, his pride was hurt a bit by her protective behavior. On the other hand, it had given him a slightly warm feeling in his chest. He had been on his own for so long that he had forgotten how it even felt to rely on someone else. It was a small difference, but it significantly diminished the heavy feeling weighing on his chest.

Long ago, he had decided to carry his burdens by himself and find his own path. He would become the independent and self-reliant man his father had expected him to be. However, as the hours passed during his watch duty, he wondered what it would be like to share things with others. To rely on them – his friends, not that he planned on telling them that anytime soon – with whatever was troubling him. Would sharing his thoughts and issues with them feel as reassuring as when Sakura steeped in front of him to protect his life with such fervor? The thought of doing that was oddly scary, but it also triggered something within himself that felt like he had taken off part of a heavy load. Maybe, just maybe, he would rather have that solace instead of his clan-built ego. A small smile tugged on his lips as he twirled the kunai around on his finger.

When the first rays of the sun appeared on the horizon, Sasuke suddenly became agitated. Something felt off, and even though he wasn't an experienced shinobi, Sasuke trusted his instincts. He shifted his body in a careless manner and furtively picked up a rock from the ground. He put a hand behind his opposite arm and looked over his shoulder and into the cave, throwing the small pebble right into Naruto's nose. The blonde spluttered and sat up, looking around himself in confusion. He looked at Sakura, who was still sound asleep, and then as Sasuke. They locked eyes and he seemed to immediately get the message.

Sasuke turned around to observe the forest and heard Naruto's footsteps nearing from behind him. When Naruto was standing next to him, Sasuke stood up and crossed his arms over his chest in a defying manner. If there was an opponent out there – something he was sure of – and they didn't get his message, then they were either stupid or cowards. If the opponent knew that they were there, what was the point of hiding?

"It seems the kid noticed us, huh?" someone spoke from behind a tree. Soon, a man with a furry coat and bandages all over his face appeared from between the foliage. Two other shinobi, another teen boy with spiky black hair and a girl with long straight hair, appeared next to him. Sasuke immediately recognized them, not only because of their Sound forehead protectors, but also because they had been the ones to attack Naruto and Sakura just before the first phase began.

"You want our scroll, don't you?" Naruto spat, clearly remembering them too.

"Oh, not just that." The spiky haired one smirked. "We want you to hand over the pink haired girl as well."

"What?!"Naruto hissed and jerked his arm out in front of him in defiance.

"Well, we don't actually need to take her away. We were just told to get rid of her." The girl smugly smirked.

"There's no way we're allowing you anywhere near her!" the blonde was furious.

" _He_ sent you, didn't he?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at them. He didn't have any proof, but it didn't require great analytical skills to suspect that the snake guy had sent them. He rapidly glanced into the cave and saw that Sakura was still passed out. She had finished healing only an hour or two ago and had ran out of chakra once again. He knew that she was in no condition to fight, which meant that this fight would be two against three.

"Your guess is correct." The girl stepped forward. "So if you don't want any more problems with _him,_ you better do as we say."

"Fuck off!" Naruto took a step closer too and started making hand signs. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Four other Narutos appeared next to him and Sasuke eyed their surroundings wearily. They would have to fight and defeat them as well as guard the cave where Sakura was in. Naruto sent his clones forward, who tried to kick all three sound nin simultaneously, but they were immediately dispelled by the group's taijutsu.

Sasuke hadn't wasted any time, after activating his sharingan, he quickly appeared behind them. He aimed a kick at the one with the furry coat, but he turned around just in time to block the Uchiha's attack. The girl was on him immediately and tried to punch him in the jaw, but Sasuke quickly dodged and jumped back a couple meters. He had to keep his distance from them, because from what he had seen back then he would lose if they caught him with their attacks.

On the other side, Naruto started fighting the spiky haired nin while keeping his distance. Sasuke was glad that he too had noticed that close combat would be dangerous. Naruto was trying to win the fight with kunai and shadow clones, but he didn't seem to be getting anywhere, since the Sound nin was skillfully dodging all of his attacks.

The furry coated nin was soon circling around Sasuke, working with the kunoichi to surround him. Sasuke turned around in order to run away from the center of the circle, but the girl threw a handful of senbon his way to stop him. Sasuke quickly made a decision and kept going nonetheless, because being surrounded was a far worse outcome than being pierced by a few senbon. With the help of his sharingan he managed to dodge most of the needles, but one of them scratched his arm and made a shallow cut.

He circled back towards the girl, since she had yet to use any special attacks, and took out a kunai. He tried to slash at her throat, but she blocked the attack by bringing up her own kunai. He then kneed her in the gut and took a hold of the wrist of her armed hand. Sasuke's kunai flew towards her stomach once again, and his attack would've connected if a strong kick hadn't hit him on his lower back. As he was pushed a couple meters back, he was satisfied to know that his kunai had managed to leave a shallow cut.

"Be more careful." The furry coated nin reprimanded and the girl nodded in affirmation.

On Naruto's side, the fight was stuck in a repeating loop. He made clones to attack the sound nin, which were dispelled every time, and then tried to injure him with long range weapons. Naruto looked over to Sasuke with worry, knowing that he had to finish this fight quickly to help him out, and then he suddenly remembered something. What he and Sakura had done back at the first fight with Zabuza could also apply to this battle.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto's clones dashed towards his enemy who almost made a bored face at the old tactic. However, he didn't expect one of them to be the real Naruto, so when he punched Naruto and it didn't poof away, his eyes widened in realization. Sadly for the Sound nin, he had already lowered his guard, so Naruto's punch hit squarely on his jaw. The spiky haired nin was thrown back and landed on the floor messily. When he finally managed to sit up, Naruto was on him once again and punched him in the face.

This time, Naruto got on top of him and straddled his lower body as his fist repeatedly connected with the Sound nin's face.

"You want to kill Sakura-chan?!" He yelled. "Like hell I'm gonna let ya!"

Sasuke's opponents realized that Naruto was beating the crap out of their teammate, so the girl immediately ran to his aid. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his now lone opponent, and yelled a warning at Naruto without looking his way.

"Naruto, watch out!"

His opponent didn't allow him any more talking and stepped closer to him, raising his guard. Sasuke took his chance at a one on one fight and quickly took out some gum string from his pouch. He swirled it around for a moment making a net connected to a bunch of shuriken. He threw two shurikens at a tree that was behind the Sound nin and then dashed forwards. As he made a circle around his opponent, the foreign nin's eyes widened in realization as he also ran in the same direction as Sasuke with a confident look on his face. Sasuke knew that he wanted to engage in close range combat and inwardly smirked.

When the Oto nin was only a couple meters away from him, Sasuke threw the other shuriken at a tree on the opposite side of him. The net stretched behind the shinobi in a semicircle with Sasuke in front of him. He must've realized that Sasuke's aim was to prevent him from running back or to the side, because he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Just before fire erupted out of Sasuke's mouth, the furry coated nin jumped closer to Sasuke. He must've known that there was no way out and decided to risk it all as he raised his arm to use his own technique. Fire washed over the Sound nin who let out a loud scream of pain. Sadly, Sasuke also was hit by the nin's invisible attack and it caused him to fall to his knees. When the fire subsided, Sasuke forced his body to stand and stumbled towards the groaning nin. He did his best to keep a clear mind as he tied him up with what was left of the string; he didn't want to risk him getting up again. It took him a while, since his head kept pounding and his vision was blurry.

Naruto was currently trying to avoid getting hit by his opponents' attacks, but couldn't find an opening at all. His male opponent was pretty slow due to the beating he had received earlier, but the female was fast and sharp with her attacks. Whenever Naruto got close enough to the already half beaten shinobi, she would throw a senbon at him and stop him midway. Whenever he tried to attack her, the boy would come to her aid and he was forced back.

Sasuke was looking at Naruto's battle from the sidelines and willing his body to come back to its senses. If he joined Naruto's fight like this, he would become a burden more than an asset. He watched for a couple of moments as Naruto helplessly tried once again to beat both shinobi. Suddenly, the spiky haired nin looked his way and recognition shone in his eyes. He stopped fighting with Naruto to launch at Sasuke and the blonde widened his eyes.

"Sasuke! Move!" Naruto yelled as he blocked another attack from the kunoichi.

Sasuke gathered all his strength and stood up straight, but another wave of dizziness washed over him and he fell to the ground. The teen was getting closer to him at a fast rate as he took out a kunai. Sasuke felt his heart rate go wild at the sight and his whole body tensed. Was he going to die like this?

The Sound shinobi was only a second away from reaching Sasuke when his head jerked forward and he fell to the ground. Sasuke was shocked when he saw a kunai deeply imbedded in the nape of his neck. He doubted Naruto had such good aim from such a distance. He looked up and widened his eyes just as Naruto cheered.

"Sakura-chan!" The blonde smiled and then aimed another kick at the black haired girl he was fighting.

Sakura was heavily panting at the entrance of the cave, but she was also grinning widely. Sasuke locked eyes with her for a moment and felt a smile tug on his own lips. Even through his near death experience and dizzy head, he felt quite glad that she was up and walking around.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them once again. Another kunai was in her hand in a split second and she threw it towards the remaining enemy with excellent timing. The black haired girl was forced to block Sakura's attack and Naruto was on her in a heartbeat. He took ahold of her neck and slammed her on the ground violently. The air was knocked out of her lungs and, as she gasped for air, Naruto's strong punch connected with her cheek. The fight quickly ended after that and Naruto finished tying her up.

"Naruto, search them thoroughly." Sakura said and Naruto did. He immediately found their scroll and held it up.

"It's an earth scroll!" He cheered. "We did it!"

"Put it away, dobe. We don't want another team suddenly stealing it away." Sasuke said after finally managing to get to them while stumbling.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto put it away and then pointed at the Sound nins. "What should we do with them?"

"They were after me, right?" Sakura said.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Naruto asked.

"I woke up to you yelling just that, Naruto. I'm sorry that I didn't intervene before. I was feeling terrible and wanted to reveal myself only if necessary." Sakura said.

"It was the smartest choice." Sasuke nodded at her. "They would've attacked you immediately if they had seen you were up."

"About what to do with them... considering what they were actually after, we _should_ kill them." Sakura frowned. "But I would rather not do that."

"Me neither." Naruto said without hesitation. Then both of them turned to look at Sasuke in silent question.

"I don't know if it's smart to let them live." He sighed. "First of all, that man we faced yesterday was interested in me and now he seems to want Sakura out of the picture. Also, he's unbelievably strong. I'd say he's even stronger than Kakashi, who is a high rank jonin. We cannot be careless when dealing with anything related to that man."

"I know." Sakura said and looked down at her hands. "I know that the proper course of action is getting rid of them. But they're out cold and probably will fail this exam. I wouldn't feel comfortable with the blood of unconscious people on my hands."

"Do you think they won't come to get you after the exam? Because they probably will." Sasuke pointed out and seemed quite frustrated.

"Maybe." Sakura nodded. "But I'm willing to take that chance."

"Don't be an idiot, Sakura!" Sasuke growled and fisted his hands on his sides. "If you don't want to kill them, I will. I'm not risking both our lives for some ridiculous sense of ethics of yours. We are shinobi after all, so you better get used to killing."

"Hey, don't talk to her that way!" Naruto stepped in between and Sasuke flinched at the realization of his own outburst.

"Sasuke, let's not pick a fight. I think you're right, shinobi _do_ kill for a living. However, I think the path of a shinobi isn't meant to be reckless or indiscriminate killing. We kill to protect our villages, our close ones, and to defend ourselves when we're under attack. Do we kill civilians? Do we kill anyone who might become a threat later on? Do we kill people who are completely defenseless and have no chance to fight back? I think there's a thin line between being a shinobi and a murderer and we should be careful not to cross that line."

Sasuke and Naruto stayed quiet for a long time, both taking into account what Sakura had said. Well, Sasuke was, because Naruto had clearly always agreed with her and was widely ginning.

"Tch." Sasuke finally gave in and clicked his tongue. "All right. But if they come after us later on, _you'll_ be the one to blame."

Sakura walked towards the sound kunoichi, who was lying on the ground and was still conscious. Sakura kneeled in front of her and moved her hand to her face. Her hand closed around her jaw in such a tight hold that it almost cracked and then she inched closer to her face.

"Listen to me, and listen well." Sakura hissed with a coldness in her voice that none of the boys had ever heard on her and that sent a shiver down everyone's spine. "If any of you dare come after us again, I will destroy you in the most painful ways imaginable. I will pull out your nails and break your fingers. I will cut your body where it hurts the most and pull out every tooth in your mouth. I'll fuck with your head so much that you will be begging for death. Do you understand?"

"Y-yeah." The girl stammered.

Sakura sharply released her face and stood up. She dusted her hands and walked back to her teammates. Of course, her threats were empty - she would never torture a person, unless it was completely unavoidable - but the girl didn't need to know that.

"We should get moving. Sasuke, how are you feeling?" Sakura asked. "Do you need to be healed?"

"I'm feeling better, so no I don't." Sasuke said, finally gathering himself after watching Sakura threaten the other kunoichi with such ease and cruelty.

"How about you, Naruto?" Sakura turned to the blonde, who hadn't even seemed to notice it was slightly out of character for a newly graduated genin to make such threats.

"I'm as good as new." He smirked and Sakura returned the gesture.

 _Of course you are._

"Now we have both scrolls, so I think we should try to avoid fighting as much as we can." Sasuke pointed out. "I suggest that we slowly make our way to the tower and try to avoid crowded areas."

"Why not go there as fast as we can?" Naruto pointed out. "It would be better to get there sooner, right?"

"First of all, we don't know if we will be _allowed_ inside before the whole five days have passed." Sasuke explained. "It would be too dangerous to attract attention and then be stuck out there surrounded by enemies."

"Also, I am still low on chakra and Sasuke is still a little shaken by his encounter. I'm guessing he will be back to normal by the afternoon, if not later." Sakura added. "Our best chance at passing this exam is becoming invisible and avoiding other teams until the last day. We still have a whole day of hiding ahead of us, so we better start by masking our chakra."

The three masked their chakras before picking up their stuff and leaving their hiding spot. Sasuke was pretty good at hiding his signature, which wasn't unexpected since he was usually good at everything he did. Naruto's chakra masking abilities were terrible, and his chakra signature was barely smaller than before. This also didn't come as a surprise to Sakura, since she knew that suppressing or controlling his chakra with the _Kyuubi_ as a guest couldn't be a walk in the park.

Team 7 moved slowly and stealthily through the forest for the whole day. They skillfully managed to avoid any contact with other teams. Sasuke's tracking skills allowed them to keep track of the paths that had been recently used by others. Sakura's sharp senses and her chakra sensing abilities helped them stay away from crowded areas. Naruto's stamina allowed him to, every now and then, get a bit ahead and have a look. When night finally fell, and after a long discussion on where to spend the night, they had decided on an area on the top of a rocky cliff. Yes, it could be a slightly showy spot to _hide_ , but it allowed them to clearly see their surroundings for at least a hundred meters in every direction. They had decided not to build a fire and eat some berries that they had picked on their way, as not to draw any unwanted attention. It was their last night after all, so they had to be extra careful; if their scrolls got stolen that night, they probably wouldn't have another chance to get them back.

Sakura took the first guard shift, since neither of her teammates had gotten much sleep during the previous night. As Naruto and Sasuke slept next to each other on the most guarded part of their hiding spot, Sakura sat on top of a high rock. From there, she could see all around her for miles and feel the wind on her face. The moon casted a yellow light on every tree and on the rivers that crossed the forest. Hours later, Sakura felt movement behind her and turned to see that Naruto had woken up and was walking towards her.

"It's still twenty minutes until your shift, Naruto." Sakura frowned.

"I know." He said and sat next to her. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the only sound around them were the crickets and the night animals that roamed around the forest beneath them. Suddenly, and after seemingly being in deep thought, Naruto spoke up. "Hey."

"Hm?" Sakura mumbled with her eyes still on the scenery.

"What happened before I woke up yesterday? You were healing me when I woke up and then you passed out, so I didn't have the chance to ask."

"Oh… you had unleashed a… different kind of chakra. It was orange and bubbly and incredibly strong. Orochimaru seemed to be weary of it, so he left. It kind of hurt your own body as well, so when you passed out I healed you."

"Oh. That." Naruto looked down at his hands and nervously played with them for at least half a minute. "Sakura, you could be in danger some day and it's also not fair for me to keep this from you…. So, you should know this. I… I'm a monster." He whispered as his voice almost broke. "I have this demon sealed inside me, I'm not sure what to do with it, but I sometimes wonder if it's safe for you guys to be around me."

"I know." Sakura smiled and Naruto raised his eyebrows at her, not knowing exactly what she meant. "You have the kyuubi sealed inside of you, right? Biju's are usually sealed inside newborn babies and you were the only person that was born on the day of the attack." Naruto frowned and was about to question how she knew that but she cut him off. "I came to that conclusion after reading some scrolls about the history of the village and seeing how the adults treated you. However, Naruto. Please know that you are _not_ a monster. If anything, you are a hero. You've taken in the burden that was weighing on the village's shoulders and have been struggling with it on your own. Also, I'm sure that such a responsibility will never be too much for you, because you are strong."

"I am?" Naruto widened his eyes with slight disbelief.

"M-hm." Sakura nodded. "In fact, I believe you are one of the strongest people I've ever met. I really admire you for that."

Naruto was quiet for a couple seconds and then, suddenly, his arms were around her. Sakura hugged Naruto back so that he could put his head on her shoulder and tightened her hold when she felt him shake a bit.

"When I found out that I had…" he took a deep breath in. "That demon inside me… I was terrified. All of my life I had always been alone, and figured that I would be hated and casted aside for the rest of my life too. After all, who could want to be even remotely close to a monster?" Naruto stopped for a while and Sakura felt his tears soak her shirt. Her heart broke a little at his words. "I didn't know what to do to get recognition, to get affection. I was _just_ a child, Sakura. It was so hard…"

"I know." Sakura felt tears form on her own eyes and she softly caressed his back.

"Hearing you say that I'm not a demon… that it's all right to be like this. It's such a relief." He buried his head further into her shoulder. "I was terrified of what your reaction would be when you found out. You know what, Sakura? Your friendship is by _far_ the best gift I've ever received."

Sakura chocked on her own tears and held him tighter. She took a deep breath in and spoke into the side of his head.

"Me too. You're the best friend I could ever ask for. I'm also grateful for your friendship and I will _never_ leave you alone for anything in the world." Sakura smiled.

When Sakura's shift was over, she didn't immediately leave. She sat next to Naruto in a peaceful silence until her eyelids started dropping. She then walked back to her spot and laid down next to Sasuke relishing in the feeling of his body heat on her cold body and his soft breathing. Sakura hadn't slept that good in _months_.

 **A/N: Well, here it goes. This chapter was mostly character development and only little action. I hope that you guys like what I did with it.**

 **I want to thank my beta MonochromeAce for her quick revision!**

 **I also want to thank all of you who review and follow for your continued support, as always. Your feedback helps me find out what you like the most and also gives me ideas.**


	15. Preliminaries

**A/N: I usually don't put anything before the chapter, but I need to clear something up first. Some readers have been asking when the romance will start. I have to say that** _ **not yet.**_ **There are three reasons for this. First of all, I want to develop a slow romance in here, which means that Sakura and Sasuke will first become closer to each other before anything happens between them. The second reason is that I want the story to develop before I run out of ideas for the romance plot. The third one is that I'm a full time perv, so their romance will** _ **definitely**_ **include sexual content. This story will be at least a high-T and maybe it'll change to M-rated if things become too graphic. You can imagine that two thirteen year olds might still be a little too young for that kind of stuff. Don't worry though, it won't take me** _ **too**_ **long to get there because there will be some eventual time skips.**

 **Now, on with the chapter.**

 **CHAPTER 15**

Team 7 had risen just before dawn and taken off towards the tower. Thankfully, they managed to keep out of trouble on their way, since they had skillfully avoided coming face to face with another team. That deed had been accomplished mainly thanks to Sakura's sensing abilities and the whole team's renewed energy and stamina. They got to the tower by noon and were then led to some sort of waiting room, where they found out that they had been the first ones to finish the second phase.

As they waited in the tower for the second phase to end they were at last given some real food. Of course, Naruto had to complain about the fact that they weren't given ramen, especially seeing that it was supposed to be some kind of reward. Sakura sighed at his antics, but didn't say anything. On the other hand, Sasuke reprimanded Naruto for being ungrateful and told him that they weren't being fed as a prize, but in preparation for whatever the next phase entailed.

They all watched as other teams entered the waiting room over the next couple of hours. By the end of the afternoon, the teams that had arrived had been 6 in total. The three Sand siblings, Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Team Guy and a Team from Amegakure. Sakura noted that there was one less team than last time around – which had been Kabuto's – and also, instead of the Sound Team there was the one from Ame. If things developed like they had last time around, they would have to make preliminary matches before deciding the final battles.

Finally, their teachers came into the room and led them towards a huge room, in which the Hokage was waiting for them. Things went on pretty much like Sakura remembered them; Sarutobi explained why the chuunin exams were so important for Konoha and their relationship with other villages. Finally, Genma entered the scene and explained that they would have to make a preliminary tournament, since too many applicants had passed the second exam. The first match that was called was Sasuke against one of the Ame shinobi.

Sakura would've been worried, but she honestly wasn't. She actually remembered the Ame team from her past life – they had fought during the second phase – and none of them were good enough to defeat Sasuke in a one-on-one match. Besides, Sasuke was currently in top condition and was still able to use his sharingan and ninjutsu, unlike last time. Needless to say, the battle began and finished just under a minute. Sasuke defeated his opponent's genjutsu with the help of his sharingan and didn't even have to use ninjutsu, since he kicked the other nin's ass with taijutsu. The Ame shinobi admitted defeat after Sasuke gave him a good beating and was about to cast a Fire Style jutsu. He walked back to the gallery, where his teammates were, with his hands in his pockets and a nonchalant attitude.

"Good work, Sasuke." Sakura's lips turned into a small smile.

"It was too easy." Sasuke smirked and Sakura rolled her eyes at his expected cockiness.

"Huh. It was an easy fight." Naruto said with a bored tone, but his eyes still trained on Sasuke. "Thankfully, because you would've lost otherwise."

Sasuke snorted at his attempt at witty banter and turned to look back to the front.

Shino's fight was the same as Sakura remembered, as well as Kankuro's. She quietly sat there as she cast quick glances at Ino, who was sitting with her team not far from her. Soon, Sakura's name appeared on the screen and, just like last time, she had to fight against Ino. She walked to the center of the arena and looked towards Ino, who was standing in front of her with a smug look on her face. Sakura frowned as their eyes met and the referee started the fight. Both of them stayed still for a while, until Ino snorted.

"What's wrong, Forehead? Too scared to move or talk?"

"You wish." Sakura answered with a smirk, knowing that her friend was trying to get a good fight out of her. "For the record, you also seem to be frozen over there."

"I just hadn't seen your huge forehead in a while. It was hard not to run away from battle at the sight."

"Oh? I think you might've used your mind transfer jutsu without realizing. Because I certainly felt like that for a moment when I first saw you." Sakura the smiled and added. "It's been a long time since we last met, Ino. Let's not allow so much time to pass again, I need to keep my resistance to ugliness up."

Ino smile honestly at her words and nodded once in agreement. The two of them had been meeting every now and then for over a year, but lately they hadn't seen much of each other. Sakura had missed their last get together and then the Wave Mission had happened. So it was safe to say that they hadn't met for almost a month.

"Well, whoever wins this fight gets to have a new set of clothes as a gift." Ino smirked and readied her stance. Cheers from both of their teams, more specifically Choji and Naruto, could be heard from the background.

"Oh, Ino I wouldn't want to take that from you. Whoever loses gets the clothes." Sakura replied and got her own defense up.

Sakura had decided to win this fight. If she wanted to find Obito or Itachi and keep the ninja world safe, she needed to get out of the village. As a chuunin she would have many more opportunities than as a genin, so she _had_ to pass. Also, things had slowly changed in this timeline - for starters Sasuke hadn't gotten the cursed mark - and that meant that both Naruto and Sasuke could end up becoming chuunin as well. It would definitely be nice if the three of them could be promoted as a team and keep on doing missions together. The only downside to this plan was that she would have to beat Ino, who she knew was a proud girl. So, in order to keep good relations between them, she had twisted the bet around so that Ino would at least get new clothes, which would definitely brighten her mood.

Ino took out a kunai and threw it at Sakura, who dodged it with no difficulty at all. She decided to allow her friend some time to battle, so she kept on dodging her taijutsu attacks and weapons for a minute or so. Ino's brow furrowed further each passing second and she finally stopped attacking.

"What the hell, Forehead?! Are you looking down on me?!"

Sakura sighed and then dashed at Ino, taking her by surprise. The blonde flipped backwards several times, but Sakura was too fast to out run. She grabbed the kunoichi's ankle, spun her around and quickly let go. Ino was sent flying towards the edge of the battle area, but managed to land on her feet. Sakura was right on her and sent a strong punch into her gut. Ino coughed a bit and landed on her knees.

When Ino grabbed a kunai and slashed forward, Sakura jumped back a couple meters and furrowed her brow. She didn't want to beat Ino so easily, since she cared about her feelings and pride. On the other hand, she didn't want others to think that she was going easy on her and raise any suspicions.

Ino brought her hands together, trying to cast her mind control jutsu on the pinkette. Sakura wasn't sure if her inner would be able to kick her out, since she didn't have a presence as dominating as she used to during her previous life. So, Sakura decided to stop her attack and flash stepped out of the way.

Ino gasped and moved her body in order to face Sakura once again. This time, Sakura was faster than before and her punch connected straight with Ino's jaw. Ino landed forcefully on the floor and looked up to see that Sakura was kneeling next to her. Sakura purposefully moved slower than she should've, so that Ino had a chance to counterattack. She did, but Sakura blocked her punch and they continued to exchange blows.

Sakura soon decided that the fight had gone on long enough and it would be too obvious if she took any longer to win. She twisted her body at a slightly higher speed and her kick connected squarely with the blonde's jaw. It sent her flying a couple meters and she landed on the floor with a thud. When she didn't rise again, Sakura and the referee ran her way. As the jonin referee proclaimed Sakura the winner, she was checking her friend's vital signs. Her jaw had sustained a slightly strong hit, so her cheek was going to swell. As Sakura healed Ino's bruise, she couldn't help feel guilty, even though she knew that it had been the minimum amount needed to knock her out.

"Ino!" Choji came running her way, followed by Shikamaru, who somehow looked worried despite his signature bored expression.

"She's all right." Sakura reassured them. "I healed her already."

"Ok. We'll take her-" Shikamaru started, but was interrupted by Sakura.

"I would like to look after her until she wakes up."

Nobody said anything so Sakura placed Ino's arm across her shoulders in order to properly support her weight. She walked back to where her teammates were seated and sat Ino down next to her. After about a minute, Ino woke up groggily.

"Ugh…" she looked around for a moment and her eyes finally landed on Sakura. "Forehead."

"Pig." Sakura answered curtly and turned to look at her for a moment, before turning her eyes back to the current battle between Tenten and Temari.

"You actually won." Ino said, turning to look at the battle as well.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Sakura's eyes softened.

"Tch. Don't be _sorry_! Don't you _dare_ look down on me, forehead." Ino scoffed. "The only way I'm ever going to get better is if people fight me with everything they have."

"Yeah… you're right." Sakura nodded and the both of them stared in silence as Temari won her fight. Ino was right about that; she would never become stronger if she faced stronger opponents. Sakura knew that she herself had stayed behind her teammates because they had always been protecting her and she had only started getting better once they left. Now that she had fought against Ino, who supposedly was just as strong as she had been in her previous life, Sakura realized just _how_ weak she had been. If she were to assess her previous strength compared to her teammates, she would have to say that she had been only half as good as they had. That also meant that Ino had a long way to go, but Sakura remembered that she had also become stronger and that fact put her mind at ease.

"You were actually going easy on me, weren't you?" Ino spoke softly, and Sakura realized that those words caught the attention of Sasuke, who was sitting on the other side of her. He didn't look their way, as not to seem rude, but she felt him shift slightly in their direction as he listened to their conversation.

"Er… yeah, a bit." Sakura smiled apologetically. "I didn't want you to feel bad about-"

"I told you, didn't I?" Ino smirked. "I need to know how strong I _really_ am in order to become stronger."

"I know. I won't do it again." Sakura smirked back.

"Jeez, when did you even get this strong?" Ino complained and frowned. "I really do have a long way to go."

"If you want, I can-"

"No way!" Ino interrupted her, knowing exactly what she was going to say. "I don't want _your_ help, Forehead. I will get stronger on my own, and I will defeat you. You better remember that."

"I will look forward to that, Pig." Sakura smirked and then looked back to Naruto's fight. He was going against Kiba, just like last time. But she decided that he seemed to be doing slightly better this time around. It didn't help her to ease the slight worry that had built in her gut when she imagined how he would feel if she and Sasuke passed and he didn't. She was wondering if their new team dynamic had helped him become a better shinobi when Ino brought her out of her thoughts.

"Also, I will win Sasuke-kun over." she swung her blond hair back and leaned her body to take a look at the now clearly uncomfortable Uchiha. "You might _claim_ not to have an interest in him anymore, but he clearly is more comfortable around you than me. That will change, too."

"Er…" Sakura fidgeted in her seat for a moment and looked at Sasuke for a moment, who was intently looking _away_ from the two girls at his side. However, the tense set to his shoulders gave away his discomfort.

"Also." Ino said and as she stood up. "I expect you to pay your debt and buy me a new set of clothes."

"Hai, hai." Sakura waved her off, but smiled nonetheless.

Ino was soon back with her team and Sakura turned her attention back to Naruto's fight. He was definitely going to win this time as well, so Sakura was able to relax her slightly tense muscles.

"I didn't mean to snap like that." Sasuke mumbled lowly, but Sakura clearly heard him.

"Huh?" Sakura frowned for a moment and turned to look at him. She wondered if his words had anything to do with what Ino had just said, but that didn't make any sense. "What do you mean?"

"Back then, when we were discussing what to do with the Sound shinobi." Sasuke averted his eyes, but continued speaking. "I didn't have to react like that."

"Oh." Sakura remembered now and her heart warmed. Uchiha Sasuke was never _openly_ sorry for anything, and those words would probably be the closest thing to an apology she would ever hear from him. "It doesn't matter. I know why you did it."

"You do?" Sasuke looked into her eyes for a moment.

"Yeah." Sakura said in almost a whisper. "You don't want to face that Snake guy ever again. You didn't want to risk anything that might put you in danger."

"Not just me, Sakura. You too." Sasuke lowly said and narrowed his eyes. His hand caught Sakura's wrist and he tightened his hold a bit. "I _still_ think we made a bad decision back there. Who the hell was that snake guy anyways? Would the Hokage even be capable of defeating him? I don't think I've ever seen someone as strong as him. I think you are taking this subject _way_ too lightly, Sakura."

"I'm not…" Sakura sighed. "I _do_ think that we need to do something about-"

"Hey, guys!" Naruto stepped closer to them and sat next to Sasuke. "I kicked ass, didn't I?"

"Congrats, Naruto." Sakura smiled at him, unconsciously remembering the fight she had half-watched.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded and then motioned for Naruto to lean closer, which he did. "We're discussing what we should do about the Sound shinobi team and the strong shinobi we faced back in the Forest of Death."

"Oh." Naruto nodded fervently. "Should we tell the Hokage? It does seem like the kind of thing which he should be aware of, right?"

"I agree." Sasuke pointed out and then both boys turned to look at Sakura.

Sakura gulped for a moment and looked down at her hands. Of course they would want to go to the Hokage to tell him about Orochimaru; it was the safest and most responsible decision. However, Sakura didn't want to even _risk_ making the Hokage suspicious. She wanted to try and find another way to keep them safe, but she couldn't think of a good excuse.

"Wouldn't Lord Hokage have us drop out of the chuunin exams?" Sakura whispered.

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked.

"I see your point." Sasuke nodded. "You think that he might deem it safer for us to not attend and stay somewhere secure. However, during the third phase the most secure place in the whole village _will_ be the exam site itself. Most of the village's security and high rank shinobi will be guarding the place or watching the tournament. So I don't think he would make us leave the exams."

" _Who_ cares about that?" Naruto hissed. "Even if there's a chance that he might withdraw us from the exam, that's now what matters now. Sakura-chan, that guy wanted to _kill_ you and he is stronger than I ever imagined anyone could be. Apart from that, he wants something of Sasuke too, so it's safe to say that most of our team is in danger. I wouldn't mind having to take the chuunin exam again if it meant that both of you would be safe."

"All right." Sakura said and inwardly sighed in defeat, knowing that their arguments were solid. She couldn't just tell them about her time traveling mission, at least not so soon anyways. "We should go talk to him after the preliminaries end, agreed?"

Sasuke and Naruto nodded at her and the three of them turned their attention back to Neji and Hinata's battle, which made Sakura deeply angry. She knew all about Neji's struggles within the clan, and she knew that their rules were fucked up, but she couldn't help but feel that it was completely unfair for him to take it all out on Hinata. Naruto kept cheering for Hinata, which was kind of sweet and seemed to give Hinata more confidence. Sadly, she lost anyways, and Naruto immediately went to her side. Sakura would've too if it weren't for the fact that Lee and Gaara's battle was announced. Lee walked down the stairs not far from her and she violently stood up to go to him, but someone caught her wrist to stop her.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"I- I just want to say something to Lee." Sakura said.

Sasuke frowned at that, but finally released her wrist and allowed her to go. Sakura finally got to the stair just as Lee was walking past her.

"Lee!"

"Oh! Sakura-san! Are you here to cheer me on?" he smiled brightly.

"Not exactly." Sakura whispered hastily. "I feel that something's out of place with Gaara… he seems too strong. Don't push yourself too far."

"No way." Lee determinately answered. "I will never back down from a battle."

"Wait, Lee-" Sakura said but was left with the words on her mouth, since he proceeded to keep on walking down the stairs and into the battle. Sakura looked down at where Gaara was standing and their eyes met for a moment. She could feel the coldness radiating off of him and wondered how deeply the Gaara she knew was buried within this younger Gaara. Her shoulders dropped in defeat and then went back to sit with Sasuke. He stayed quiet for a moment and then spoke without looking at her.

"You seem worried."

"It's just that… something seems off about Gaara." Sakura said. "Don't you remember when we first met them before the exams started?"

"How could I forget?" Sasuke slightly narrowed his eyes. "That killing intent was _not_ normal."

"I hope that he lives through this battle." Sakura whispered and crossed her fingers in front of her face as they started fighting. Naruto sat next to them on the floor and soon the whole audience was silent; they all felt the tension in the air.

The battle between Gaara and Lee quickly grew more intense causing the tension in the audience to rise, since this was by far the most brutal battle yet. Lee seemed to notice that he would not get anywhere by regular means, so he used his signature jutsu to open his chakra gates. Everyone was surprised at his great display of power, but even more so when Gaara continued to fight. The Sand shinobi became even more vicious than before, his whole face twisting into a mad and cruel expression. He raised his hand and his sand moved closer to Lee and captured him. Unlike last time, his sand enclosed around not only an arm and a leg, but also around a part of his lower torso. Sakura's eye widened and, knowing what would happen next, she stood suddenly.

"Sabaku Kyū." Gaara spoke and Lee's scream echoed through the hall.

"Lee!" Sakura called and jumped into the arena.

"Sakura-chan!" "Sakura!" Naruto and Sasuke called her back, probably worried about her entering the arena with Gaara present.

Sakura paid them no mind and threw one glance towards the referee, who immediately stepped forward and called the fight to an end. Of course, Gaara was taking none of it, and he sent his sand towards Lee yet again. Sakura landed next to Lee's side and crouched down next to him. She cursed when she realized that his spine had probably been fractured, which meant she couldn't risk moving him out of the way. She stood up and faced Gaara's approaching sand, readying her own chakra for a water style jutsu to render his sand useless. She steadily looked into Gaara's eyes, willing him to stop attacking. However, before the sand could come closer to her, Gai appeared in front of her and dispersed the sand away with a burst of chakra. Sakura sighed in relief and immediately turned around to face Lee to see that he was looking at her through half lidded eyes.

"S-Sakura-san…" he whispered.

"Don't speak." She commanded, as her inner medic began to take control. Lee looked at her for another moment before losing consciousness. Sakura faintly noticed two other medical shinobi crouch next to her and move their hands in order to lift Lee and place him on a stretcher. She practically slapped their hands away and snapped. "Stop! Don't you see that his spine has been severely damaged?!"

She quickly sent healing chakra into her hands and allowed them to pass over Lee's body. Three of his vertebrae – L3, L2 and T10 – had been completely crushed. If it were a mid-ranked medic nin, they would have trouble fixing this on the spot, and probably a more experienced one would have trouble saving his spine it if he were to be moved to the hospital. Sakura took a deep breath in, deciding that she was not going to risk Lee becoming a cripple, so she immediately placed her green glowing hands on his sides. Thankfully, this was a slightly easy procedure for her, seeing as she had successfully completed the most complicated procedures and more during her past life. Nonetheless, she tried to fake effort and did the work in a slower manner, knowing that it wouldn't affect Lee's recovery as long as nobody moved him. Since Sakura was focusing so much on her work and trying to guess how long she should actually take to heal him, she didn't notice how some of the people around had approached them in silence. Ten minutes later, the crushed bones had mended back together into their proper shape in order to fit with the rest of Lee's vertebrae. She then moved her hands to his arm and leg to partially heal them as well.

 _I already kind of exposed some of my abilities anyways._

"He's fine now." Sakura said when she finished fixing the worst part of the damage. "He still needs some treatment, but he will be all right."

"How did you pull off that kind of medical procedure?"

At those words, she turned around and saw the medic nins' dumbfounded expressions. In the background, some of the genin were staring at her in awe. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi were also there, but had a slightly proud look on their faces. Sakura's eyes moved a bit further and saw that Shikamaru was sitting further away and looking at her. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he examined her thoroughly. Sakura gulped and turned her gaze back to the medic team that had been assigned to the exams.

"I've been practicing for a long time." Sakura simply answered. "He still needs attention though."

Both medic nins shared a look, but said nothing and slowly moved Lee onto the stretcher. As they left, Genma called everybody back to the sidelines and announced that the last fight would now take place. Team 7 went back to their previous spot and the three of them stayed silent as Choji fought the remaining Amegakure shinobi.

Sakura's mind barely registered Choji's win. She was absolutely frightened by now, her head filled with worries about being exposed. Maybe she could still get away with it if she played her cards right or if she was really lucky. Or, maybe her luck would be as horrible as Tsunade-shishou's and the Hokage would become suspicious of her. If that was the case, then she would be taken in for interrogation. And thus, Sasuke's probable bright new future would be destroyed by the corrupt council… again. Sakura didn't really regret her decision of saving Lee's mobility, but that didn't make her feel any less anxious. Sakura was so caught up in her own what-if scenarios she didn't notice that everyone was standing until Naruto shook her arm.

"Come on, Sakura-chan." Naruto softly said with a confused frown on his face. He locked eyes with her, and she immediately knew that he was wondering what she could have been thinking about so intently. Thankfully, he didn't ask.

Every genin that had passed the preliminary fights had been instructed to stand in formation in front of the Hokage. He briefly explained that the third phase would happen a month from then and they were asked to draw lots to decide the match-ups. When the numbers were written down and the chart was shown to them, Sakura drew in a sharp breath. She didn't know if it was a good turn of events or not, but she certainly was glad that at least Sasuke would be safe. She quickly read through the matches listed.

Sasuke v/s Kankuro

Shino v/s Choji

Sakura v/s Gaara

Temari v/a Shikamaru

Naruto v/s Neji

Sakura felt Naruto shift next to her and then immediately felt his eyes upon her. She turned to look at him to see that he was frowning at her.

"I still got to fight that Neji bastard, but you really have _horrible_ luck." He said. "I was hoping none of us had to fight Gaara."

"You could always forfeit, Sakura." Sasuke said with a serious face. "I don't think anyone can win a one on one match against Gaara."

"Thankfully I don't need to win to pass the exam. Remember what the Hokage said; the promotion will have nothing to do with who wins, but with how we confront our opponents." Sakura reassured briefly – although inwardly she wasn't so confident – and turned to look back at the Hokage.

The Hokage immediately excused them out of the room and everyone turned to leave except for team 7, who stayed behind to talk to the Hokage as previously planned. Sakura nervously fidgeted as the three of them neared their leader. If she had been slightly concerned about this before, she was truly worried now that he had seen her display of medical ninjutsu. They came to a stop in front of him and his eyes trailed over each genin, finally landing on Sakura.

"It's good to see that a young shinobi is excelling in medical ninjutsu. It's a field that always has a shortage of people." The Hokage looked at Sakura and then his eyes traveled towards Kakashi, who had just come to a stop next to the three genin. "Who taught her these abilities?"

"When I received her on my team she already knew the basics, sir." Kakashi answered politely. "It seems that she's been learning on her own long before she graduated from the academy."

"Interesting." Sarutobi said. "It seems that you have an extraordinary team, Kakashi. Despite how good a shinobi you are, I hadn't really expect you to teach them so well since you'd been so against becoming a teacher."

"Well, what can I say. I kinda grew fond of them." Kakashi shrugged.

"Or maybe they were just too good on their own." He laughed and then turned to the three genin. "So, what exactly brings you before me?"

"Sir." Sakura immediately stepped forward to explain, since she wanted to keep his suspicions to a minimum. "In the forest of Death, we were attacked by an incredibly strong ninja. He didn't seem to be a genin at all… we actually believe he was just as strong as you, sir." Sakura said and Sarutobi raised his eyebrows. "For some reason, he seemed to have some kind of weird interest in Sasuke."

"What else can you tell me about this man?" the Hokage questioned.

"He had the likeness of a snake and also used snake summons to attack. He was pale and had bright green eyes, if I remember correctly." Sasuke added and the Hokage's eyes widened in recognition.

"I believe you are talking about Orochimaru, who was once a Konoha nin but is now an S-Class criminal. How come you're alive? What did he want from you?" He narrowed his eyes and Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at Sakura, willing her to explain since she'd be the one awake.

"Eh… when I got to them Naruto was out cold, so I helped Sasuke fight the snake nin. Not long after, Sasuke was knocked out as well, so I was left on my own against that man. He was only playing around with us, but he still managed to injure me a lot within a short amount of time. I really thought we were done for… but then something happened." Sakura said, and smartly tried to change to focus of the conversation towards Naruto. She took a short glance at him and he nodded, allowing her to speak. "Naruto woke up really angry and a huge orange bubbly chakra surrounded him. Orochimaru – that was his name, right? – seemed really wary of it because he immediately left. Naruto seemed to calm down after that, but passed out due to the wounds resulting from the strange orange chakra. I healed him with what little chakra I had left and immediately after I blacked out."

"Hm… you were quite lucky, young ones." Sarutobi closed his eyes in thought. "If it weren't for Naruto's interference, you would've probably been killed."

"There's something else." Naruto spoke up. "The day after that encounter, a team of Sound nin surrounded us. They claimed that the snake guy had sent them to get Sakura-chan."

"Hm? Really?" Sarutobi scratched his chin in thought and his eyes trailed towards Sakura. She inwardly flinched, since she had expected to avoid exposing that part to keep a lower profile. "I guess that something needs to be done in this regard. I will have the security tightened until the exams are over and I will also put two ANBU to watch over the three of you at night."

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama." Sakura asked. "Only two ANBU for the three of us?"

"Considering that I'll have to put more people into the security of the village, I will only have two spare ANBU for this guard detail." He answered. "The three of you will have to stay together for the next month. Tell me where you will be sleeping so I may inform the ANBU."

Team 7 quietly discussed the matter for a couple moments. They finally agreed on staying at Sasuke's place, since Naruto's was too small for the three of them and Sakura firmly refused to risk Orochimaru getting anywhere near her parents. After informing the Hokage, he dismissed them and three of them quietly nodded. They thanked the Hokage for his help and walked away.

"What was all that about?" Sasuke turned around to face his teammates when they exited the building. "How come I didn't know about that orange chakra thing?"

"Oh." Sakura eyed Naruto for a moment. "It's not my secret to tell."

"Well…" Doubt flickered on Naruto's face and, after looking around for a while to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation, he spoke in a low voice. "I hope you don't freak out about this, teme. Also, I believe this is some sort of village secret, so you cannot tell anyone, all right?" Sasuke nodded and the blonde continued. "You have heard about the tailed beasts, haven't you? Well… I… err… I'm the container of the nine tailed beast."

" _What?_ " Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief. "The Kyuubi? The one that attacked the village thirteen years ago?"

"Yeah." Naruto sighed and passed a hand through his hair. "I was born that exact day so they sealed it inside of me to prevent it from completely destroying the village. Back in the Forest of Death I totally lost my cool when I saw how injured Sakura-chan looked… so it kinda took control of me, apparently. I don't really remember any of it, though. Sakura-chan told me about it."

"That's… a lot to digest." Sasuke was in deep thought for a moment and then looked up to Naruto once again. "How come only Sakura knew about this?"

"I only told her last night when her watch ended." Naruto hurriedly said and then the silence stretched for a moment. "You don't hate me now, do you?"

" _Now_ I understand why people give you weird glances." Sasuke said and then smirked at Naruto. "But to me you're still the same idiot I've known all this time."

Naruto beamed at the raven haired teen and Sakura herself released a breath she'd been unconsciously holding. She knew she shouldn't have worried, but she still wondered what would happen if Sasuke took the news in a wrong way. They heard someone's footsteps and turned to see that Kakashi had exited the building as well.

"So, this is definitely an interesting turn of events." he said when he came to a stop next to them and tapped his chin in thought. "I believe that we need to take a different course of action now. First of all, Sasuke and Sakura are being targeted by Orochimaru, so I think you will need to stay with a highly skilled jonin during the day." He then turned to look at Sakura. "Sakura, you will be facing Gaara a month from now, which is honestly quite disturbing. You will have to develop a strategy for that and train a lot."

"I agree." Sakura nodded.

"You mentioned that the two of us will have to spend our days with a jonin." Sasuke said. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, one of those jonin would definitely be me. But the three of you will have to train individually for your matches, so we will need at least one other jonin." The white haired jonin answered.

"I think that you should be the one to train Sasuke." Sakura added, hoping that Sasuke would learn the chidori with Kakashi during that time. "The both of you have the sharingan, so it makes sense that you train him."

"I agree." Kakashi hummed for a moment. "I still haven't thought about anyone to train Naruto, so it'll have to wait for a day or two. But I actually have someone in mind to train you, Sakura. Someone I know won't refuse now that you've become Orochimaru's target."

"Who?" Sakura slightly widened her eyes when she asked. She knew that most jonin were known for being slightly eccentric and honestly hoped that whoever he had in mind would be someone amiable. After all, she would be spending a whole month with this person. She wasn't at all expecting who Kakashi had in mind and almost groaned when he said the name.

"Mitarashi Anko."

 **A/N: OK!** **Here you go. Chapter 15 (already!). I hope that you enjoyed it and please, as usual, let me know what you thought of it.**

 **Thank you all for reviewing and stuff.**

 **Special thanks to my beta MonochromeAce!**


	16. Unexpected Arrival

**CHAPTER 16**

Sakura was a bit apprehensive of sleeping in the same room as Sasuke and Naruto after their encounter with Orochimaru. She was certain that she would have at least one nightmare regarding the snake sannin and Sasuke's betrayal. She knew that they wouldn't mind her having any nightmares, but she also wouldn't know what to tell them if she revealed anything about her past life while sleeping. So, as soon as they got to Sasuke's place, Sakura turned to speak to them about the sleeping arrangements.

"Sasuke, how many room's does your place have?"

"That one's my room and the one on the corner is a spare one... Why?" he eyed her suspiciously, probably figuring where she was going with that.

"I would like to sleep alone." She said.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "What if Orochimaru comes after us at night? We need to stick together!"

"I agree with Naruto." Sasuke said. "It's too risky."

" _Two_ ANBU will be guarding during nights, so if anything happens we will have time to wake up and gather in one place." She said

"Still, it would be safer for you to sleep with us." Naruto added.

"Well, I _am_ a girl. I do need some privacy." Sakura said and both boys looked at her skeptically. She didn't want this to drag out any further, so she added. "Especially if it's for a _whole_ month."

Naruto almost choked on his own spit and immediately felt embarrassed. He didn't say anything further, nodded hastily and moved away to _rearrange_ some of his stuff. Sakura inwardly smirked in victory; young teens were always so easily flustered when this subject came up. Her inner smirk vanished when her eyes met Sasuke's, who was looking at her straight in the eye.

"I don't care about that." He flatly said. Sakura almost flinched at his hard tone, immediately realizing that he was not at all fazed by her implication. "It's your _life_ we're talking about, Sakura. As a shinobi, do you really have room for such predicaments when your life is at stake?"

"It would probably be awkward for _all_ of us, right?" Sakura added. Actually, she still hadn't had her period in this timeline, but the boys didn't need to know that.

"I don't mind." Sasuke plainly said and then, even to Sakura's dismay, added. "It wouldn't be the first time I saw blood."

"Teme!" Naruto jerked up from his bag with an appalled expression on his face. "Sakura _is_ a girl and definitely needs to have some privacy! Don't talk to her so lightly about such subjects!" Naruto finished his sentence with a deep blush on his face and then hastily left the living room to enter Sasuke's bedroom.

"I still don't agree with this." Sasuke crossed his arms stubbornly. "I think that it's not a good enough reason when _Orochimaru_ is targeting you."

"I'm sure that it won't make a difference."

"You don't know that." Sasuke said. "It was _Naruto_ who actually drove him away last time."

"And if anything happens I will find you guys immediately." Sakura said and then her eyes narrowed slightly. "And now we're dropping the subject. You're not changing my mind on this."

Sasuke slightly scowled at her and she could almost hear the deep growl on his throat. If there was anyone in the village that didn't like being shut up, it was definitely Sasuke. Thankfully, he seemed to realize that this was a personal decision of Sakura's and clicked his tongue.

"Tch. Whatever. It's your business anyway." He said and followed Naruto into the bedroom.

That day, they didn't eat dinner and went straight to bed. After all, they had just finished the first two phases of the chunin exam, along with the preliminaries for the third phase, and were completely worn out. Sakura laid down on her bed and watched the ceiling for a while. She didn't like getting into arguments with Sasuke, but she was not going to concede on this, even when she was actually glad that he went out of his way to try to keep her safe. Sakura's mind soon forgot about the young Uchiha and trailed off to another subject that had been bugging her ever since they left the exam building. Even as she fell asleep, Sakura couldn't help but be slightly anxious about her upcoming training with her temporary jonin teacher.

 **-x-**

Sakura had been trained by Tsunade in her past life, who was known for her overall strong character and severity when it came to training. Nonetheless, none of that could have possibly prepared Sakura for Anko's ruthlessness. Not only did she have little patience, but she also continually pushed Sakura to her breaking point. Thankfully, Sakura's stamina and raw strength was above practically any genin level shinobi, and Anko had at least acknowledged that. However, she had claimed that in order to be able to stand up to Gaara or Orochimaru, she needed to be _much_ stronger.

Sakura had always relied too much on her chakra to enhance her strength and speed, and she had always known that it could someday backfire on her. Anko was particularly good at speed, so she had decided to train Sakura in a way that would improve her physical speed. Also, she was an expert at genjutsu – Sakura couldn't think of anyone as good as Anko, apart from sharingan users. So the older woman had decided to polish Sakura's genjutsu as well. Of course, the pinkette hadn't showed her true genjutsu abilities to Anko, because there was absolutely no way a thirteen year old genin could've learned that _and_ medical ninjutsu by herself. So Sakura had been lowering her skills, which didn't mean that she wouldn't learn anything from the older jonin. Apart from that, Anko was a truly versed poison specialist – maybe the best in the village – especially since she'd trained under Orochimaru. Being a medic nin that had trained under Tsunade, Sakura was quite good at poisons, but she could always learn something else from the tokubetsu jonin. Anko was also a tracking specialist, so that subject would also be a part of their training.

Sakura was glad that her training with Anko involved little to no chakra at all, since she would head off to work at the hospital in the afternoon. It was something she would've forgotten about, after the whole deal with the chunin exams, if Kakashi hadn't reminded her that he had already talked to the head medic so that she was allowed to work for a couple of hours every day. She had been pretty excited to start working there after a couple years away from it. However, Sakura hadn't expected people to recognize her the first day of work. Apparently, word of her intervention with Lee back at the preliminaries had spread and everyone knew about her already. The head medic even asked her to demonstrate some of her skills on a patient as soon as she walked through the doors. Sakura thought about declining his offer, but decided that she had already shown some ability and it would seem weird for her to act as if she was a complete amateur. He was impressed and had immediately asked her to do medium level interventions instead of watching basic procedures. Sakura was called a genius by many medic nins and even people outside of the health profession talked about her.

Needless to say, Sakura was under a lot of pressure. Apart from her new job at the hospital, improving her speed and genjutsu, along with learning about poisons and tracking skills there was a _lot_ to have on her plate. Sakura wouldn't only have to train with Anko for seven hours straight and work for two or three hours at the hospital, but she also had to come home to do whatever research Anko asked of her.

Sasuke had been training really hard with Kakashi, which meant that the jonin had actually started taking his job as a teacher more seriously. Sasuke even mentioned with slight surprise that he was barely late now and had been pushing him almost to the point of exhaustion. It seemed that Kakashi had found the whole ordeal with Orochimaru quite unsettling, because Sakura knew him to only be on time for really important occasions.

On the other hand, Naruto had met Jiraiya while the sage was peeking on a women's bathhouse. Apparently, he had recognized Naruto, because in the end he had decided to train him for the next month until the third phase of the exam. Naruto had at first complained how the old man had no shame looking at young women while they bathed and writing porn. Sakura had almost flinched at his words, because she had been secretly enjoying his writing for _years_. She couldn't help it, really; he was truly gifted when it came to erotic literature. Of all people, she had unconsciously expected Naruto to be more open about it, but his behavior was to be expected considering his still young age.

Since the whole team's agenda was filled with individual training, they barely saw each other even though they were living together. Thankfully, Sasuke seemed to quickly forget their small disagreement from the first day of their new living arrangements, so the whole atmosphere was pretty relaxed amongst them. It made the little time that they spent together – which was at dinner – quite enjoyable. Sakura had insisted that they cooked their own food, pointing out that it was ridiculous for a shinobi not to have basic cooking skills. Of course, both of them were completely hopeless at first. On one hand, Sasuke only knew how to cook rice and tomato soup and, on the other hand, Naruto only knew how to pour hot water on instant ramen. Sakura managed to convince them that it truly was unbelievable that didn't know anything about cooking, so they decided to cook dinner together every evening.

Sakura wasn't an especially gifted cook, since she hadn't invested much time on it in her previous life due to her tight schedule, but she could defend herself and cook something edible. Even though she had said that cooking would teach them an important skill, her real purpose was to get them to start eating healthier from now on.

Apart from all of that, during the time the three of them cooked they really did have a lot of fun. While they cooked and ate together at night, they seemed almost like a regular group of friends having a get together. Even Sasuke seemed to be slightly more talkative during those times, meaning that he had become used to his teams presence at his place. Naruto had been the complete opposite; he spoke slightly less and was more willing to listen to other people, which meant he wasn't feeling the constant need to prove himself in front of Sasuke. Sakura decided that Naruto's behavior in Sasuke's presence was now that same that it had been when she was alone with him. Sakura never thought she'd ever be thankful for Orochimaru's intervention, but she somehow was.

Sakura had put a lot of thought into Orochimaru for days. He hadn't made an appearance for almost a week and she had been on edge ever since the second exam finished. One day after dinner, she decided to put her mind wholeheartedly into the snake sanin subject. She thought for a long while, trying to put herself in his place as much as she could, and finally came to a conclusion. If her assumptions were correct, he wouldn't come anywhere near them until the chunin exams were over. She'd come to that conclusion based on three premises. The first was that he had noticed how good she was with poisons and he wouldn't want to risk getting his body weakened before the attack on the village. The second was that, on top of her own presence, Naruto was there too, which could very well be seen as an obstacle. The third was that if he were to attack with the help of Sand shinobi – since the sound assembly had left due to his members no longer participating – and one of the two ANBU were to leak that intel out, then his whole plan would be exposed. And so, Sakura had decided that Orochimaru's most probable course of action would be to avoid getting into any trouble at least until the invasion. And that notion helped her calm down at least a little bit.

However, Sakura had been struggling with something else too for the past several days that they'd been crashing at Sasuke's place. When she had announced that she would have to stay at her teammate's house for a whole month, her parents had been kind of alarmed. Sakura had to explain that they'd come across some trouble with shinobi from another village during the second phase and that staying together was an order from the Hokage himself in order to keep them safe. In the end, they reluctantly agreed to it, but had demanded that she come over for dinner at least every couple days, to which she immediately agreed. Sakura and her parents had always had a very good relationship and it had only been enhanced when she traveled back in time. As a child, she hadn't really valued her parents and had usually brushed them aside. After losing them, she had realized how important they were to her and had devoted almost all of her free time to spending it with them.

Sadly, she couldn't leave Sasuke's place by herself at night, since they were supposed to be under the guard of the two ANBU. She'd told her parents that her teammates would have to come over as well and they even seemed to like the idea of finally meeting her team. However, Sakura wasn't feeling too comfortable with the idea of having Sasuke and Naruto at her place. Sasuke was a pretty serious and polite teen, so she didn't think he would be much trouble. She was much more worried about Naruto, since he was loud, _too_ talkative _and_ he was the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki.

At least both of them hadn't been against the idea of dining at her place when she'd brought it up. Well, Sasuke of course hadn't seemed _excited_ about it like Naruto, but he had understood that she would want to see her family every once in a while. So after five days of eating at Sasuke's, they were headed towards Sakura's house.

"I don't think I've ever tried real home cooked food!" Naruto said and beamed. "I can't wait!"

"What do you call what we've been making with Sakura, dobe?" Sasuke retorted, completely ignoring that Naruto's comment was kind of sad.

"Oh. Well, it is good to eat something aside from instant food… but I really don't think I've tried anything better than ramen yet!" he replied.

"Food at my place is great. Actually my mother's not the only one to cook. My father cooks sometimes as well and he's also really good at it." Sakura smiled. "My cooking can't really be compared to theirs."

"I think you're a pretty good cook, Sakura-chan." Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

"Besides, you have plenty of time to learn." Sasuke shrugged. "I still don't think that shinobi need to polish their cooking skills. The basics should be enough."

Sakura sweatdropped at his expected practical comment and looked up when they got to her door step. Sasuke and Naruto came to a stop behind her and she knocked on the door a couple times.

"Hello." Sakura's mother opened the door almost immediately. "I'm Haruno Mebuki. Please come in."

She cleared the way to them to enter and, after Sakura lead the way, her eyes were trained on her two teammates. Both of them gulped a bit under her harsh stare and fidgeted a bit in place. Sakura noticed how Mebuki's eyes lingered a bit longer on Naruto, probably recognizing him as the 'demon kid'. Luckily, she didn't say anything and simply motioned for them to enter the living room.

"Finally!" the cheerful voice of a man called and the three of them turned to look at Sakura's father, who was walking up to greet them. "I'm Kizashi. Sakura's told us so much about the two of you!"

"Really?" Sasuke said and lifted an eyebrow at his pink-haired teammate.

"Well, why wouldn't she?" Kizashi arm circled strongly around Sasuke and Naruto's necks and the young Uchiha shifted uncomfortably at the unexpected physical contact. "The three of you have been spending _every_ day together for the past six months."

"You are distressing our guests, Kizashi." Mebuki deadpanned as she tapped her husband's shoulder.

"Oh, sorry about that." He beamed and took a step back. "Haruno genes are quite affectionate, but I can imagine that you already know that."

"Not really." Sakura rolled her eyes as her father laughed loudly and then looked at her mother. "Can I help with anything?"

"No, dinner's already served." She said and led them to another room. "Let's eat before it gets cold."

The five of them sat down around the table and started eating the food that Sakura's parents had prepared. The boys' eyes widened slightly at the first bite and Sakura immediately knew that they'd liked it. At first, Mebuki asked a bit about how they were doing with their training for the third phase of the chunin exam. She was probably trying to delay her husband's teasing from getting out of hand, but of course that was bound to happen sometime anyway. Naruto started talking about how strong Jiraiya was and how much good his training had done for him. Of course, Naruto being as clueless as always, started complaining about his sensei's sexual interests. Sakura inwardly groaned and Sasuke kept throwing disapproving glances at him, which the blonde of course didn't notice. Thankfully, opposing to her mother's seriousness, Sakura's father was rather casual about practically _every_ subject.

"Sooooo…" he started as soon as there was a silence in Naruto's speech. "You three _are_ teenagers after all. So I guess that having a hentai teacher can't be _that_ bad. You will have to learn something about those subjects one day after all."

"But not with _him_. Ew." Naruto shuddered. "I don't think I even want to learn such things yet."

"What about you?" Kizashi's eyes trailed over to Sasuke who shifted awkwardly in his seat. "You should have some interest in that, right? If I remember correctly, you _are_ pretty popular amongst girls."

"We _do_ have a hentai teacher. Kakashi always goes around with a porn book." Sasuke pointed out and Sakura was almost surprised that he answered back with more than one word. He actually managed to divert the focus of the conversation away from him and towards their sensei.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto cut in. "The author is actually Jiraiya!"

"That's an interesting fact." Mebuki spoke for the first time after a while and eyed Naruto curiously. "Is that a coincidence or is he famous?"

"He's pretty famous it seems." Naruto scratched his chin in though. "I think the series' name is Icha Icha Paradise of something like that."

"Ohhhh." Kizashi's eyes shone in recognition and then locked with his wife's in a knowing manner. "We _do_ know the books."

"Dad!" Sakura's eyes widened and he almost _giggled_ at her in a teasing manner. She slapped her forehead and groaned in dismay. Not only did she _and_ her parents enjoy the same porn literature – which was already terrible on its own – but now her teammates knew about it as well.

"Well, Sakura wouldn't really remember, but she once came across one of our copies a long time ago." He pointed out laughing and even _Mebuki_ snickered at Sakura's side, clearly recalling the memory as well. "She must've been around five when we found her frowning upon one of the illustrations."

"We had to tell her that the pictures were of people wrestling on a hot summer day." Mebuki added with a small smile when Kizashi's laughter didn't allow him to keep on speaking.

"Now that I think about it... maybe that's why she chose a career as a kunoichi." Sakura's father and everyone laughed at his joke.

And so, Sakura was reminded why she hadn't usually brought friends over to her place. She really liked spending time with her parents – she loved them and they were truly fun to be around – but they didn't really have any tact when it came to sharing secrets, especially her father. The rest of the evening was spent by everyone laughing at Sakura's _memorable_ childhood eventsand Kizashi's eventual teasing to her two teammates. However, now that she was older and didn't really care about being teased, she really couldn't bring herself to regret inviting them to her home.

By the end of the evening, the boys seemed to relax a lot around her parents and Naruto even joked back while Sasuke laughed a little more freely. Sakura's worries about her parents' reactions towards Naruto had been completely forgotten when she noticed how open they were with him. When they left, Sakura's parents insisted that they come back in a couple days, since they didn't want to go without seeing Sakura for so long. To Sakura's surprise, even Sasuke seemed to easily agree to the invitation. As they walked back to Sasuke's place – closely followed by their ANBU guards – both boys told her that they'd had a really good time. Sakura knew that they didn't have a family – no one at all – and at that moment she honestly couldn't care less about her slight uneasiness during dinner. As long as she saw them honestly laugh with happiness and joy, it didn't really matter.

 **-x-**

Sakura had actually grown fond of Anko. Sakura and Anko would train all morning long - from 7 am to 2 pm - and then grab lunch together. Whenever they weren't training, Anko would step out of her ruthless character and become much more relaxed. She sometimes reminded Sakura of the old Naruto; obnoxious, extroverted and with a great sense of humor. Sakura even allowed her pervy side to make dirty jokes every once in a while, knowing that Anko wouldn't judge her for it. Instead, she would laugh her ass off and say that she had the mind of a grown woman like herself. Sakura would simply laugh that off and keep on talking to her, completely ignoring her remark. It really felt good to have someone around her age to talk to after such a long time – Sakura's real age was nineteen while Anko's was twenty-three.

After weeks of intensive training, Anko had finally acknowledged Sakura's abilities. She said she hadn't even _heard_ of a thirteen year old with so much potential in years. The woman wasn't the kind of person who easily praised people, but when she did she really meant it. She added that her training had really helped Sakura improved greatly as a kunoichi during the month that they'd been together. And so, for their last take out lunch, they went to eat dango; Anko's favorite. The next day the third part of the chunin exams would begin and that meant their training was over.

"So." Anko munched on her food. "I think you've improved quite a lot. I still don't think it will be enough to actually _defeat_ Gaara in a fight."

"I know. That kid is insanely strong." Sakura nodded. Anko probably didn't know that the Sand shinobi was actually a Jinchuriki and she also didn't know that Sakura was a lot stronger than she seemed. Even despite that, Anko was right; she probably wasn't good enough to truly defeat him. "Thankfully I can still pass the exam if I play my cards right and show my abilities."

"Exactly." Anko nodded as she took a big gulp of water and then exhaled heavily. "Remember what I told ya, kiddo; you have to rely on genjutsu, speed and poisons. If you don't, you _will_ get your ass kicked."

"I know. I'm still a bit nervous about tomorrow."

"Well, who wouldn't be? It's the last phase of the exam. If it makes you feel any better, I think that you're by far the best applicant for the exam… well, besides Gaara. If you show them what you're truly made of, you will definitely pass."

"Thanks." Sakura smiled as she finished her food and laid the chopsticks next to her empty plate. "I will still see you around after this, right?"

"Ha! Of course you will!" Anko beamed and lightly punched Sakura's shoulder. "Don't think that you will get rid of me that easily."

"See you around then." Sakura smiled and stretched her hand in front of her for her temporary teacher to shake.

"I'll see you _tomorrow_. Everyone is looking forward to your fight." She shook her hand and patted her shoulder. "I gotta go now. Bye!"

Sakura bid the cook at Ichiraku's goodbye and then left towards the hospital. Sakura walked through the doors at the usual time and noticed that people seemed to be walking around at a faster pace. Most of them had an excited look on their faces and continuously kept on whispering to each other. Sakura went towards the hospital wing she'd been assigned to in order to get to work immediately. However, the head medic approached her before she could reach her destination.

"Sakura." He said and motioned for her to come closer, which she silently did. "I'm glad that you're here. Come with me."

"Eh... right." Sakura said as she followed the man closely. "Excuse me for asking, but is there an emergency?"

"Oh, not at all. There's just someone that wants to meet our little prodigy."

Sakura quickly followed as she wondered who could possibly want to meet her at the hospital. After a while, they entered a larger room. It was packed with flustered medic nins and Sakura could only wonder what was going on. The head medic cleared his throat and everyone became quiet and moved out of his way. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw who was standing in the middle of the crowd.

Blonde hair. Huge breasts. Dominating presence. Signature diamond on her forehead.

"So here she is!" Tsunade exclaimed and smirked at Sakura. "The so called medic genius."

"He-hello." Sakura managed to speak up.

"You do know who I am, don't you?"

"Of course. Tsunade-sama." Sakura smirked back at her previous shishou, immediately regaining her composure.

"Oh, she's got character. I like her." Tsunade grinned and walked past her. "Come."

Sakura followed Tsunade as she tried to calm the erratic beating of her heart. It was her shishou, and she was right in front of her. And she had come to find her on her own. She didn't understand _why_ she was there, but she couldn't help but not give a damn. It had been _years_ since she had last seen Tsunade, who had been like a second mother to her. Sakura followed Tsunade into the emergency room and saw the blond woman stop next to a bed. Lying there was a man with a broken ribcage which had punctured his right lung.

"They say you're a genius." Tsunade said and motioned at the gasping patient. "I want you to show me what you can do."

Sakura took a deep breath and quickly assessed the wound. It was a slightly complicated procedure that would be difficult for even a middle ranked medic nin to manage. However, since Sakura had already exposed some of her abilities, she guessed that it wouldn't do any harm to show a bit more. Besides, she was in front of _Tsunade_ and she'd be damned if the slug sannin didn't deem her abilities good enough. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she was definitely not going to screw up.

As a green glow surrounded her hands, she placed them above the patient's chest and mended the broken bones first. She tried to do it at a believable pace – as to not raise suspicions – and furrowed her brow to fake effort. The patient's bones slowly mended back together, the cells within the bones multiplying at a fast rate thanks to her chakra. Once the bones had been set, she directed her chakra to the patient's lungs. Slowly, his tissues closed up and regenerated, healing the puncture wound properly. Tsunade's hands were on the patient's side the whole time, her chakra inside him as she sensed how Sakura healed the man. When Sakura was done, she removed her hands from his chest and looked at the now slightly conscious man.

"You're all done." She announced. "Wait for a nurse to come by and give you some painkillers and instructions for what to do later." The man nodded once and Sakura took a step back before looking up at Tsunade with expectation.

"Hmmm." Tsunade hummed and a crooked smirk appeared on her lips. "You really are what they say you are. Come, let's have a talk somewhere in private."

Sakura hastily followed Tsunade's quick pace towards an office that had been cleared out. Her previous shishou sat down on an armchair and motioned for Sakura to sit in the seat on the other side. Sakura did as she was instructed and looked at Tsunade for a moment before speaking.

"I never thought I'd get to meet you." She honestly said. _At least not this soon._

"Oh, well. I heard some rumors about a teen genius medic nin that had started working at Konoha Hospital." She said. "I was in the area and my curiosity was piqued, so I decided to stop by and see if it was true. Besides, the chunin exam tournament will begin tomorrow, so I thought I'd take the chance to attend since I'm already here."

"I see." Sakura said and held the hem of her shirt in anticipation. "What do you think?"

"You're even better than I expected." Tsunade nodded once. "I have never seen someone with skills like that at your age. Tell me, how do you know so much about medical ninjutsu?"

"Back at the academy I was always praised for my excellent chakra control. So a couple years ago I started looking into how I could use it and came across medical ninjutsu." Sakura answered with a plain face, but inwardly cursed herself for lying to Tsunade. "So I started reading about the human body and how chakra could be molded in a way that enhanced that body's ability to heal. When I thought I knew enough I started using it to heal small cuts and bruises that I received during training. After a while I got better at it and then I came across some gravely injured animals a couple of times. They would've died anyways, so I healed them even though I wasn't sure if I'd succeed. In general, I've been learning on my own. I just got accepted into the hospital a month ago."

"You've learned all of this on your own?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow and Sakura nodded.

"Yeah." She said and had the urge to gulp out of anxiety.

"What would you say if I offered to stay for a while after the exams and teach you for a bit?" she offered with a smug smile. "I could definitely polish your abilities in a short period of time, if you are as good as I think you are."

"Really?" Sakura's eyes widened and she felt her heartbeat go faster. "I would be honored, really!"

"Okay then. I will meet you after the exams are over. I recently found out that you'll be participating, so I'm planning on watching your performance." Tsunade announced and stood up. "I have to go now, so I'll see you tomorrow."

Sakura bowed lowly as Tsunade waved at her and retreated. When she left, Sakura stood up straight once again and stayed frozen in her spot.

She had never dreamed that this could actually happen. Tsunade would be there during the chunin exams and during the sound invasion. If everything went right, Sarutobi wouldn't have to die and Orochimaru would be dealt with at once.

This was also a great chance on a personal level. If she learned with Tsunade she would have a way of explaining her inhuman strength, her medical abilities and the seal on her forehead. If she trained under Tsunade, the chances of raising suspicion would lower incredibly. If she trained with Tsunade and became a well-known kunoichi, she would have much more freedom to walk in and out of the village. This would also allow her to find Obito and finish her mission.

Apart from all of that, Sakura had missed Tsunade so much. Spending time with her and having the chance to become close to her made Sakura feel bubbly and warm inside.

Sakura still felt a bit guilty about lying to her, but she would make up for it. Sakura would make sure to gain her shishou's trust once more. Tsunade was a fair and smart person and Sakura trusted her with her life. So, once she deemed that they were close enough, she would tell her everything. About her true self, about her past, about Sasuke's betrayal, about the council, about the fourth shinobi war and the ten tailed beast and about her time travelling mission.

Tsunade would definitely know what to do and, if it came down to it, she would be a good ally to have against the council.

 **A/N: So, this might be the first real important change in the plot. Let me know what you think about it! The ramifications for this are quite a lot! I have my mind pretty much set on the future plot, but I'd like to hear what you have to say anyways!**

 **I want to thank my beta-reader, MonochromeAce, for her fast revision.**

 **Also, thanks to all of you who have been reviewing and following. Your input and support means a lot to me.**


	17. Tournament

**CHAPTER 17**

 _Sasuke walked down the dirt path that lead back to the village after a particularly intensive and long session with Kakashi at the training grounds. He was mostly drained of chakra and his whole body ached after the strenuous activities it had endured. However, his sharp senses were always alert and he didn't miss the second presence behind the trees._

" _Who's there." He narrowed his eyes at a particular spot._

" _Oh, you sensed me, huh?" Kankuro walked out of his hiding spot and onto the path._

" _Tch. Of course I did." Sasuke clicked his tongue. "What? Too eager to fight me that you can't wait two more weeks?"_

" _Actually, I was planning on forfeiting my fight with you." He answered and smirked. "But I think we have unfinished business."_

" _We do?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, silently wondering why the older genin wanted to drop out of the exams._

" _That pink haired bitch that's on your team didn't let us finish out encounter last time. You walked around with such_ arrogance _that the only thing I wanted was to wipe out that smug expression off of your face."_

" _So, you came all the way here just to tell me that?" Sasuke deadpanned with a bored voice, further annoying the Suna shinobi._

" _Ha, you truly hold yourself high, don't ya?" Kankuro snorted. "I was just passing by when I saw you and thought that I would give you a warning."_

" _Then talk and stop wasting my time." Sasuke grunted back._

" _When our fight comes, I will give you a beating like you've never experienced before. You better consider dropping out, brat. I have far more experience than you do."_

" _I'm not a coward, unlike you."_

" _Keep that stupid pride as long as you can." Kankuro retorted. "I also advise you to tell your pink haired teammate to forfeit. Or she_ will _die."_

 _Sasuke frowned as Kankuro left and then walked back to his house. When he walked in, he found that Naruto and Sakura had just finished preparing dinner._

" _Hey, Sasuke." Naruto greeted as he sat down on the table next to Sakura. "Another couple minutes and I might've eaten your share as well."_

" _Hn." Sasuke said and sat down as well. He took a bit out of his food, making his mind up, and then he finally spoke. "I was approached by Kankuro today. He tried to threaten me into forfeiting our match."_

" _Ha! That idiot doesn't know how stubborn you can be." Naruto snickered and Sakura nodded in agreement._

" _He also mentioned that Sakura should forfeit if she wants to stay alive." Sasuke said and eyed Sakura. "Sakura, are you sure that you want to fight that guy?"_

" _I told you. I don't need to defeat him to become a chunin." Sakura answered._

" _What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked._

" _What does the Hokage expect of an applicant for chunin? What's the real difference between a strong genin and a chunin?" Sakura raised a finger as she explained. "The latter is capable of strategic thinking and leading a team. A chunin is responsible and always uses a tactical approach to defeat his enemies. So, we're not only expected to show strength at the exam, but also leadership skills." Sakura lowered her hand and Sasuke nodded in understanding while Naruto frowned, knowing that it was not exactly one of his strengths. "I'll pass as long as I prove that I'm capable of those two attributes when I fight Gaara. That applies to you too, Sasuke, Naruto. If you want to become chunin, you have to show the judges that you're smart_ and _strong."_

"Start!" the referee's voice snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts in a second.

He crouched down and eyed Kankuro, who was standing in front of him with a smirk. The audience was quite in expectation for the first match of that year's tournament, especially considering that the last Uchiha was taking part in it.

"I warned you, brat." Kankuro smirked. "You will regret fighting me."

Sasuke didn't say anything and activated his sharingan as he readied his stance. Kankuro took off the seemingly heavy load that he had been carrying on his back since they'd first seen him. He took out the bandages covering it to reveal a wooden puppet that was the size of a grown person. Kankuro smirked as he moved his fingers and suddenly the puppet became alive and dashed at Sasuke. Sasuke's sharingan had just registered the chakra strings on his opponent's fingers before he had to start fighting back.

The puppet was truly fast, almost as fast as Sasuke, so he had quite a hard time avoiding the puppeteer's attacks. He tried using all of his strength as his punches collided with it, but the thing was unbelievably robust. He tried cutting it with his shuriken, but the wood was barely scratched. He moved away from the figurine and looked at his opponent for a moment, noticing that Kankuro had taken many steps back as he had been busy avoiding getting hit by his puppet. He decided that Kankuro was probably a long rage fighter based on his ability and his reluctance to get closer to him.

Sasuke quickly swirled around as he dodged yet another attack from the wooden puppet and ran towards his opponent at top speed. He was barely a shadow as he moved forwards, closely followed by the wooden figure, which was thankfully not fast enough to get to Sasuke on time. Kankuro widened his eyes at that and turned around to run, but Sasuke's speed allowed him to catch up to him almost immediately. Sasuke got a hold of Kankuro's wrist and swirled him around, placing the Suna shinobi between himself and the puppet, using him as a shield.

"What!?" Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized that in the puppet's place was now Kankuro with a smirk. His eyes instantly darted to the person that was in his hold, only to realize that it was the puppet.

Sasuke moved out of the way just in time to avoid a knife that had been aimed at his throat. As he did, he noticed a faint scent on the blade, meaning that it was probably imbedded with poison. Sasuke quickly jumped into the air and landed on the other side of the arena. Kankuro had once again placed himself away from the Uchiha and the puppet was in between them. So, the puppet wasn't only a good taijutsu opponent, but Kankuro could also switch places with it. Sasuke cursed under his breath, deciding that he needed to get rid of it as soon as possible.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" he said after finishing a sequence of hand signs.

A _huge_ ball of fire was blown out of his fingers and surrounded the puppet in flames. Sasuke narrowed his blazing sharingan eyes as he tried to see through the flames, searching for the annoying figurine. Suddenly, the wooden puppet dashed out of the flames and towards Sasuke, who dodged once again and leapt into the air. He managed to avoid close combat with it, but his eyes widened when he noticed that smoke bombs had been sent his way.

He quickly ran away from the smoke, which had a faint purple color. It was something that a normal eye wouldn't have noticed, but to Sasuke's sharingan it was as clear as day; it was a poisoned smoke.

Sasuke noticed that the poisonous smoke was covering almost half of the arena, which limited his movements. Sasuke watched as Kankuro walked into the poisonous smoke with a smirk. It made sense that he was resistant to his own poison and it made a great defense-offense tactic.

Kankuro almost laughed as Sasuke engaged in another taijutsu battle with his puppet. Now that he was inside the smoke, he had practically won the fight. He moved his fingers with ease, controlling his wooden puppet like it was second nature to him. Suddenly Kankuro's eyes widened at the weird feeling of a foreign chakra flowing through his brain.

"Kai!" He shouted and soon his real surroundings were revealed to him as the genjutsu faded.

His poisonous smoke was not around him at all, but far into the right side of the arena. His puppet was right next to the smoke fighting an imaginary opponent. Worse of all, the young Uchiha was right behind him and he could feel an electric charge in the air. He quickly raised his hands to form a sign and switched places with his puppet.

"Chidori!" Sasuke screamed as his hand pierced through the puppet, shattering it to pieces.

"What!?" Kankuro's eyes were wide in shock and it was evident that he wasn't used to losing his puppets.

Sasuke didn't allow him a moment to gather himself and was running at him at great speed. Kankuro cursed loudly and raised his guard.

He tried to kick Sasuke in the gut as he approached, but the Uchiha was faster. Kankuro's arm was caught and he was slammed on the ground violently. He coughed in pain as the air was knocked out of his lungs. He was about to stand up when he felt the coldness of a kunai pressed to his throat.

"Fuck." He cursed. "I give up."

"You were overconfident." Sasuke said and stood up when the referee arrived to declare him the winner.

"You're good at genjutsu." Kankuro hissed. "Why wait till now to use it?"

"Since you were a long range fighter, I figured that you must've developed some sort of defense mechanism too, which would probably lower your guard. I waited until you were walking into the poisonous smoke to use genjutsu and it allowed me enough time to charge my own attack."

"Tch. Damned brat." Kankuro frowned in annoyance and walked away from the battlefield and back to his team.

Sasuke also walked back to Sakura and Naruto and sat down next to them.

"You kicked his smug ass!" Naruto patted him on the shoulder.

"He was a good opponent." Sakura added. "You did great, Sasuke."

"What was that jutsu? I've never seen you use it before."

"I learned it this month. You better catch up, dobe." Sasuke answered with a slightly playful smirk.

"I have learnt stuff too! Don't get too cocky." Naruto smirked and then turned to Sakura. "Are you ready for you fight, Sakura-chan?"

However, Sakura's eyes were set on where the Hokage was seated. On one side of Sarutobi was Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage. On his other side was Tsunade, who was currently whispering into the Hokage's ear with a frown on her face. Sakura narrowed her eyes as she tried to read her shishou's lips, but they were expertly covered. Sarutobi held a confused look on his face as he shook his head at whatever his old student was saying. Sakura frowned at that and wondered if Tsunade had found out about the invasion.

"Saaaakuraaa-chan." Naruto called once again.

"Huh?" She looked to the side to see her two teammates watching her.

"I asked if you were ready for your fight. You're next, right?"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess." She mumbled absentmindedly.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, but didn't press the subject any further. Sakura looked back up to where Tsunade was with the Hokage, but was startled to notice that she was gone. She looked around the whole audience for a while and concluded that she had left the tournament stadium. She frowned; could Tsunade have other business in the village, besides what she had told her at the hospital? Maybe she knew about Orochimaru. Maybe it was something else. Sakura finally decided to stop worrying, since she couldn't do anything about it now; her fight was next.

They all watched as Shino and Choji fought and seemed to be on a similar level. In the end, Shino's bugs drained all of Choji's chakra and prevented him from using his Human Bullet Tank technique. Shino was declared the winner and both boys walked back to their respective teams. Before Sakura and Gaara's fight could be announced, the Hokage stood up and raised his arm.

"I was asked for the next match to be postponed, so it will be the closing match. The rest of the schedule will be as planned." His strong voice informed.

So, the next match would be Temari vs Shikamaru. Both contestants entered the arena and started the fight.

"Why did they delay your fight, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"How the hell is she supposed to know that, dobe?" Sasuke sighed.

"I wish I knew." Sakura said and crossed her arms in thought.

Maybe it was Tsunade's doing? If Sakura were to guess why she had interfered, she would say that it was because she'd wanted to see her fight. If that was the case, what kind of matters would be pressing enough for her to leave so suddenly?

The fight between Shikamaru and Temari was as Sakura remembered. Even though Shikamaru did his best, he was still not good enough to win against her. And so, Naruto's turn came up.

"I _will_ beat that Hyuuga bastard for hurting Hinata-chan like that!" Naruto growled and punched his open palm.

"You do that." Sakura smiled. "But don't lose your head down there."

"Just kick his ass, Naruto." Sasuke added and Naruto nodded back at his teammates. He jumped down into the arena and Neji approached the place with a calm attitude, as expected.

As Naruto and Neji's fight began, Sasuke spoke without looking at Sakura. "Hey."

"Hm?"

"Do you think Naruto will win? The Hyuuga is a strong opponent."

"He is." Sakura agreed with a small smile. "But so is Naruto."

Sasuke didn't say anything, clearly doubting her words. She didn't blame him, though; he still hadn't seen what Naruto was capable of. Naruto's ass was beaten during the first half of his fight, since the Hyuuga teen was truly a good shinobi. However, after making a speech about Hinata and his own strength, Naruto released a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra. The fight was turned around and the blonde ended up winning the encounter. Sakura was glad that he had won, but he had completely forgotten her advice and had practically used no tactical abilities. Besides, he had relied on the Kyuubi's chakra instead of his own. So, even though he'd won the fight, there was a chance that he wouldn't be promoted.

"Well done, Naruto!" Sakura cheered nonetheless as he walked back to them.

"I must say I didn't expect that. At all." Sasuke said with a still surprised expression – at least as surprised as he could look.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Naruto complained.

"The final fight, Gaara vs Sakura!" the Hokage announced.

Sakura looked up in anticipation and saw that, next to the Hokage, was Tsunade who had returned to her previous seat. Her shishou locked eyes with her and gave her a thumbs up. Sakura would've sighed in relief – she truly wanted to show her abilities to Tsunade to make sure that she would train her – but then her eyes came upon the fake Kazekage. He was eyeing her intently, his eyes drilling into her. Sakura quickly averted her gaze, knowing that looking into a Kage's eyes for too long could be taken as disrespect. Did Orochimaru suspect that she knew of his true identity? She was taken aback when she felt arms circle around her tightly.

"Be careful, Sakura-chan." Naruto spoke into her shoulder. "Please don't be too reckless."

"I won't." Sakura smiled patted his back before letting go of the embrace. When she did, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder and looked back to see Sasuke.

"Don't push yourself _too_ much. You saw what he did to Lee."

"I know." Sakura nodded at him and walked down into the arena.

As she came to a stop she couldn't help but feel happy about Sasuke's concern. He would've never said anything like that in her past life, so she was glad that he was more open with her now. She knew that she was supposed to be on edge, but his words had calmed her down a lot. She inwardly thanked him for it. Of course she was thankful for Naruto's support as well, but it had come as no surprise.

"I imagine that you'd become a fairly good shinobi." Gaara spoke lowly with a bored face. "Too bad that you'll die today."

"You also seem like a strong opponent. I expect both of us to show the best of our abilities." Sakura said curtly, deliberately ignoring his second comment.

She had decided to show as much strength as possible in this encounter, as long as it didn't raise any suspicions. It would be enough to impress the judges but not enough to raise suspicion. That meant the she wouldn't be able to use her chakra enhanced strength nor her seal. She would enhance her speed with chakra, but only a bit, and rely on her known abilities.

The referee walked in between then and raised his arms before announcing the start of the fight. Gaara immediately casted his sand out of the vessel on his back and it started flowing around him. Sakura took a deep breath in and channeled her chakra throughout her body before running at him.

Sakura's speed had greatly increased during her training with Anko, so she would only use chakra to enhance it when it was absolutely necessary. She raced across the arena towards him, trying to erase the distance. He was by far a better fighter on the long range, so she would have to try to engage in a close taijutsu battle with him.

Sakura dodged his sand at a quick pace, spinning and twisting through the air and on the floor as she advanced towards him. Gaara seemed slightly fazed by her ability to get so close to him, so he casted a Sand Clone. The clone stood between her and the original Gaara and intercepted her. Sakura aimed a punch at him, knowing that the sand would take a hold of her arm. When it did, she used a bit more chakra to push her body faster and spun around, pulling the clone with her and dispelling it back to sand.

Sakura once again ran at him and noticed that his sand was denser now, but the area of coverage was smaller. She moved up and down, dancing around as she dodged the sand that attacked her, preventing her from moving any closer.

Sakura quickly made a couple signs and an illusion of herself appeared in front of her. Both Sakuras spun around for a couple seconds to confuse Gaara. When they parted ways, he frowned as he tried to find which one was the real one. He had to divide his sand on two fronts, so Sakura _and_ her illusion managed to get closer to Gaara. He widened his eyes as he looked to the front and behind his back. Both Sakuras aimed a punch at Gaara, the fake one dispelling just as the real one gathered a _bit_ of chakra to her fist.

Gaara used his sand to propel himself upwards and away from Sakura. However, Sakura's punch collided with Gaara's sand column and it broke down. Gaara was sent flying to the ground and had to soften his landing with a pile of sand. He looked back at Sakura and she smirked at him.

"Is that all the sand you've got? 'Cause next time you'll be needing more of it."

He narrowed his eyes at her as she lunged at him once again. He growled and allowed twice as much sand to appear in front of him. Sakura inwardly smirked at how easy it was to taunt young genin. Gaara readied his sand around him as Sakura neared him at a fast rate. However, before she got close enough, Sakura gathered chakra to her feet and jumped 8 meters into the air. As she was moving upwards, she took out a scroll and opened it with a quick flick of her wrist.

"Release!"

A huge amount of water appeared in front of Sakura and started falling towards Gaara's sand. The Suna shinobi widened his eyes and motioned for his sand to move away from the falling water. However, Sakura had already anticipated this and started making hand-signs.

"Suiton: Suishōha!"

The water that was falling beneath her suddenly became alive and Sakura moved her hands to control it. As she swiftly fell to the ground, her hands pushed the water towards Gaara's sand. For a while, he struggled for his sand to avoid the water, but in the end it became heavy and wet. Sakura knew that using that jutsu was a stretch of a what a regular genin abilities should be, since it was a mid-level water jutsu, but she hadn't figured out any other way to deal with his sand.

Gaara's eyes became furious and she could almost see his arms shaking in anger. Sakura decided to take action before he could lose control any further and gathered chakra on her legs to push her body at a fast rate towards him. Gaara summoned his now wet sand, but it was slower and he had to use more chakra to control it. Sakura reappeared behind him and kicked him on his right side, sending him flying to the edge of the arena. He slammed into the wall and then stood up shakily, glaring at Sakura darkly.

"How _dare_ you." He hissed and clenched his fists as a crack began to appear on his face.

A burst of evil chakra surrounded Gaara and _all_ of his sand became wild. It started moving around in a random manner, forcing Sakura to dodge several times. It finally gathered around Gaara, making a sort of sphere around him. Sakura knew that she would only be able to break through it with chakra, but couldn't display her brute strength there. However, if she used only a bit of chakra to strengthen her attacks, she would probably be able to break through it after a couple hits _and_ she wouldn't raise suspicions.

Sakura jumped and landed just in front of Gaara's sand sphere. She immediately concentrated her chakra on her fists and legs and began to move at a quick speed. Her body twisted and turned around in the air as she landed one hit after the other. As she attacked, she had to dodge the sharpened points that were formed on the sphere. The chakra enhanced speed along with the slightly chakra enhanced strength allowed Sakura to slowly make a crack on the surface.

When the crack was deep enough, Sakura took a senbon from the weapons pouch tied to her hip and swung it into the wet sand sphere. As she quickly backed away from her opponent, a particularly long point of sand suddenly shot out from the sphere and stabbed her shoulder. Sakura jumped backwards a few times and then put a glowing hand to her shoulder, effectively stopping the bleeding in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, the sphere crumbled and Sakura gasped at what she saw. One of Gaara's hands had been replaced by the Shukaku's and he flung it her way. Sakura immediately jumped back and barely managed to avoid getting hit by its incredible force. She cautiously looked Gaara straight in the eyes as he growled in a half-conscious way and stumbled to keep his body straight.

" _What_ did you do to me?" he mumbled and Sakura was relieved to see that her strategy had worked.

"I assumed that you had built a resistance to poison… so I created a special mixture that would surely affect you. I had to make sure that you would drop the defenses around your skin to do it." Sakura answered quickly as she circled around and came up behind Gaara.

His slowed movements and numb body weren't enough to keep up and so she took a hold of a shoulder with a tight grip. Her kunai going straight to his neck in an attempt to force him to surrender, but his aura suddenly shifted to a much darker chakra and it swirled around him violently. The aura forced Sakura backwards a good ten meters, but she managed to turn around in time and land on her feet.

"AAAARRRRGHHH!" Shukaku's aura soon took control of Gaara and his whole body shook with stress. His human hand tightly gripped the demon's hand in a futile attempt to make it go away.

In the middle of the frenzy and Shukaku's dominating aura, Sakura felt a slight shift in the atmosphere. She quickly looked around and noticed that almost the whole audience had been put to sleep by a genjutsu. Sakura's eyes quickly darted to her teammates and she was relieved to see that Sasuke was already putting his hands on Naruto to help him break out of the illusion.

Temari and Kankuro were soon next to Gaara forming a defensive position and were helping him regain control. It seemed to help, as Shukaku's arm was now gone. She assumed that the poison's effects would soon fade, since she had prioritized the speed of the poison over its duration.

Sakura then looked up to the platform where the Hokage were seated and saw that Orochimaru's kunai was pressed to Hiruzen's throat. In front of them was Tsunade in a fighting stance eyeing the fake Kazekage warily, probably wondering what she could do to stop him without starting an international war.

"Sakura!" Sasuke landed next to Sakura, quickly followed by Naruto.

"What the hell was that!" the blonde yelled in disbelief and pointed at the Suna shinobi. "He's a fucking monster!"

Sakura flinched at his incredibly loud voice and looked at Gaara, who was now staring at Naruto in rage. His eyes then darted towards Sakura and his face contorted into a mad smirk. Naruto's comment had obviously destroyed any grip that Gaara might've held on the demon inside of him. Sakura truly loved Naruto, he was like a brother to her, but she seriously wanted to punch him at that moment.

"I'll _kill_ you!" he roared and Shukaku's aura flared again. "I'll _fucking_ kill you!"

Sakura's eyes widened at the impending threat and cursed under her breath. If Gaara unleashed the one-tailed beast in the middle of the arena, the casualties would be catastrophic. So, in a split second she turned around and ran away from the arena.

As Sakura escaped the populated areas, she looked over her shoulder and noticed that Naruto and Sasuke were running right next to her at top speed. Further behind them was Gaara, closely followed by his siblings.

"Sakura-chan, why are we running away?!" Naruto asked from behind her.

"You just said it, dobe!" Sasuke answered with exasperation. "He's practically a monster! We don't want to fight him around civilians!"

Naruto worriedly looked behind him and saw the evil aura that was leaking out of the Suna shinobi. Sakura didn't have to look back to feel that the beast's aura was increasing his speed above human level, and he was quickly approaching them.

Sakura's heart was beating rapidly, feeling the Shukaku's crushing killing intent on her. She had initially planned on staying with Sarutobi when the invasion started, but hadn't anticipated Gaara's actions towards her – something that had been pretty naïve on her part, now that she thought about it. At least, she felt reassured at the fact Tsunade was with the Hokage, which would hopefully mean that the conclusion of that fight would be a different one compared to her original timeline.

However, there was a different issue plaguing her mind at that moment. Last time around, Gaara had only unleashed the Shukaku outside of the village. This time, he was quickly losing control _inside_ of it and Sakura was afraid that they would have to fight him there. Right in between buildings and civilians.

Sakura could only pray that they managed to get Gaara out of the village before he lost all control.

 **A/N: I know I skipped some of the fights, but I didn't want to bore you (and myself) by writing the fights that had happened on the original plot. And well… I could've written more about Shino and Choji's fight too, but their fight wouldn't make difference in the future anyways.**

 **Let me know what you think! Things have taken quite a turn compared to the original plot! I'd** _ **love**_ **to read your thoughts about it!**

 **As always, I want to thank my beta reader, MonochromeAce.**

 **ALSO, I know that I took a bit longer to update this chapter. But the next one will be coming out in a day or two!**


	18. Devastating News

**CHAPTER 18**

"Get down!" Sakura yelled as she felt the Shukaku's chakra flare and a tingling anticipation in the back of her mind.

All members of Team 7 got down just in time to avoid getting hit by the one-tailed demon's arm. Sasuke turned around and saw that one of Gaara's arms had once again taken the form of a monster's. Sweat trickled down his temples in anticipation and angst. Just what the hell is that?!

Instead of crushing the three genin, the demon's hand slammed against a building and destroyed one side of it in just one move. Naruto gaped in disbelief and shook in anger. He was clearly appalled by the notion that there were probably people inside of it.

"I'll kill you!" Gaara once again lashed at the three of them with crazed eyes focused on Sakura.

"Damn it!" Sakura dodged again, her mind quickly going through whatever options they had regarding the sand shinobi. His hand slammed on another building once again and she felt a knot form in her throat. How many people had been injured so far? Was she supposed to lure him away now or was she supposed to go and help them?

Suddenly, four more people joined them. One of them was Shikamaru, another was Shino, and then the two Sand siblings. Kankuro and Temari seemed worried and without a clue about how to handle their brother. Shikamaru locked eyes with Sakura and she darted towards him at full speed.

"We have to get him away from here!" Sakura hissed when she stopped next to him. "I have to stay back to heal these people though!"

"I'll keep him in place for a couple seconds." He answered.

"It won't be enough to heal them all!" Sakura growled and then realization seemed to dawn on her. "I know! Keep him busy for one minute and then release him! He'll come after me if you don't piss him off."

Shikamaru nodded once, immediately knowing what she was planning as she jumped away from him. The lazy genius got in Gaara's way and put his hands together. His shadow stretched for a good ten meters and his opponent was suddenly frozen. Shikamaru frowned at the immense strength that Gaara possessed and had to use all of his might to keep him in place. The suna shinobi's frenzy had him a bit confused at first, not understanding why his body was not reacting to his commands. However, he soon realized who was responsible and narrowed his eyes.

Sakura jumped in front of Naruto, Sasuke, and Shino motioning for them to follow her. They quickly hid behind a building and she looked at Naruto.

"Make a shadow clone, Naruto."

"Huh? Only one?"

"Just do it!" Sakura bit back, almost losing her temper. Naruto didn't say anything, but casted a clone nonetheless. "Now, henge it so that it looks like me."

Naruto's clone poofed and, when the smoke cleared, another Sakura appeared between them. Sakura walked up to the clone and put her hands on its shoulder, sending some of her chakra into the clone. It would be enough for Gaara to notice her presence in it, but it was only a fraction of her reserves.

"Good. Now, I want all of you to get out of the building make sure Gaara sees you but doesn't figure out you want him to. Lure him into following you and run into the training grounds as far as you can." Sakura commanded, her vast experience as a shinobi taking over the whole team in a natural way.

She rushed back in between two big wrecked walls next to them which would hide her well and sat down on the floor. She closed her eyes and focused on the flow of her chakra. Sakura put all of her mind into the channels that lead the chakra throughout her whole body, taking notice of all the live energy flowing through her body. She took a deep breath in and when she exhaled, her chakra flow became almost nonexistent. It was just the right balance of what was needed for her to stay alive and to make her presence undetectable. She faintly heard the surprised gasps of the genin around her, but couldn't afford to lose her focus.

"Go." She softly said in a low voice and felt the three genin and the clone jump out of the wrecked building.

Shikamaru had never thought it would be this difficult to control the suna shinobi. He had had to use his jutsu at least three times by now, because Gaara would constantly break free of his shadow jutsu. He'd had to use every tactic he could think of to confuse him and then catch him again. Shikamaru was shaking in exertion and had his stomach in a knot at the sight of the evil aura seeping off his opponent. He could see his siblings standing next to him and yelling out so that he would calm down, but to no avail.

Only a moment before the minute Sakura had asked for had gone by, he felt four presences appear behind him. He turned around and saw Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and Shino running through the buildings. Gaara also stopped struggling and focused his eyes on them. Sakura stopped for a moment and turned her head around to watch the two struggling shinobi. One of her eyebrows lifted and a smug smirk appeared on her face, clearly mocking Gaara for his predicament. She then turned around and followed the rest of them away from there.

"How dare she mock us, Mother?!" Gaara wailed and his two hands clutched his head in pain.

Shikamaru flinched at his apparent insanity, waited for a couple seconds longer and then released his jutsu. He jumped back and managed to get out of the way just in time to avoid getting run over by Gaara's demonic arm. Between pants, he watched as the Suna nin followed after the three genin towards the nearest Gate.

He walked a couple steps forward, his eyes lingering on where Gaara had disappeared, and sighed deeply. He then noticed Sakura walking out of a wrecked building and motioning for him to come forward. Shikamaru jumped towards her, trying to keep his suspicions about her at bay, and landed in front of the pinkette.

"Shikamaru, I need you to find me someone with brute strength to lift all of this rubble. There's probably at least a couple civilians trapped beneath." She said and he nodded, leaving the place immediately.

Sakura walked towards where she felt a chakra signature and noticed a middle aged man that had been almost crushed by a fallen wall. She quickly kneeled next to him and put her arms on his injured arm, sending healing chakra into it. As she healed him, her mind drifted back to her teammates, worry settling in her gut. Sakura did remember that they'd been just fine on their own last time, but it didn't help relieve her apprehension. After all, in this timeline a lot of things had changed and she couldn't be a hundred percent sure that they'd win the fight. Nonetheless, Sakura decided to stay and save these people's lives, because she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't.

A couple minutes later, she had healed the man's arm enough for him to live and not lose his limb. She stood up and, when she turned around, she saw that Shikamaru was back. Behind him landed a couple Konoha chunin and she quickly approached them.

"I need you to help me lift the rubble that is blocking my way to the injured." She said without waiting another second. She would've done it herself, but she had decided against it for two reasons. First of all, she didn't want to waste chakra on enhancing her strength when there were so many people in need of healing. Secondly, nobody knew her to have that kind of ability, and she didn't want to reveal it unless absolutely necessary.

Sakura closed her eyes for a couple moments, allowing her chakra sensor abilities to spread out. She quickly checked all of the surrounding buildings and, after ten seconds, she pinpointed that there were fifteen injured under the demolition. Sakura signaled to the chunin where they were and they went to work as soon as she did. Sakura followed them around, healing the gravely injured as fast as she could. When she had just finished healing the seventh wounded person, she stood up and walked to the chunin that were around her. She was instructing them on how to carry another patient to the hospital, when she noticed that there was another presence behind her and looked around.

"Tsunade!" her eyes widened and she felt relief wash over her. Tsunade smirked at her and jumped down from the rooftop she'd been standing on.

"I've been watching you for a while. You've done exceedingly well. I'll take over from here. Go find your teammates." She finished as two other medics arrived.

Sakura watched as the small fractions of Katsuyu came from behind her and crawled over to the wounded, channeling her shishou's chakra into their bodies. The slug sannin had probably been healing shinobi and civilians all along, and Sakura was relieved that she'd attended this chunin exam. Sakura took one last look at her mentor and dashed towards the woods at full speed.

After jumping from branch to branch for a minute, Sakura finally saw smoke in the distance. As she headed that way, she couldn't help but pray that Naruto and Sasuke were all right. They'd parted ways around fifteen minutes ago, so the fight could've perfectly ended by then. She dashed through the trees and finally came upon a scene that made her sigh in relief.

Sasuke was crouching next to an unconscious Naruto and Gaara was passed out a couple meters from them. Kankuro and Temari were currently picking Gaara up and taking him away. She quickly walked to her teammates and kneeled next to Sasuke.

"How is he?" she asked just to make sure and Sasuke turned to look at her with slight surprise.

"He's just knocked out." Sasuke answered and then frowned. "You took a long time."

"I was healing the civilians that had been crushed with Gaara's attacks… I couldn't leave them behind. I'm sorry." Sakura knew that a team was expected to keep together and support each other at all times during battle, but she'd already known – kinda – the result of this particular encounter. "I also have a duty as a medic to tend to them."

"I know." Sasuke said and looked down at Naruto. "Well, at least we're fine. Let's go back."

Sakura nodded and each of them took hold of one of Naruto's shoulders. They pulled him up, put one arm over a shoulder each, and walked back to the village.

"So… you guys actually defeated Gaara?"

"Naruto did most of the work." Sasuke spoke lowly and Sakura could tell that he was slightly frustrated at the idea of not being much help. "He apparently learned some good skills with that hentai teacher of his. But the fight actually was won because Naruto is the same as Gaara; they're both Jinchurikis." Sasuke stopped for a moment as he looked at her and Sakura realized that he was waiting to see her reaction. She widened her eyes in fake surprise and gaped a bit. "He apologized for calling him a monster and told him that he had made friends even though there was a beast sealed inside of him. Apparently Gaara was shocked by this and his fighting weakened, so Naruto took the chance and knocked him out."

Sakura didn't say anything else and smiled. She had been slightly worried that after Naruto's outburst at the stadium, Gaara wouldn't get to find it in him to care about others.

After walking for about ten minutes, they finally reached the gate. Sakura noticed that there didn't seem to be any battles around and figured that the fight was over. She had the nagging need to know it the Hokage was alive, so she approached a shinobi that was standing on the gate, pulling Naruto and Sasuke with her.

"What happened?" she asked anxiously.

"We won." He smiled in a cheerful manner. "Hokage-sama killed Orochimaru and the rest of us managed to force his allies out of the village."

Sasuke sighed in relief and Sakura smiled too, but for a complete different reason. She'd been right when she assumed that Tsunade's presence would be more than enough to help Sarutobi finish Orochimaru off. She felt a small smile tug at her lips and gestured with her hand towards the village. Sasuke nodded once and the both of them resumed their walk. They'd walked a block or two into the village, when Naruto stirred and opened his eyes.

"Huh?" he looked towards the left and the right, seeing his friends holding him up. "What happened?"

"We won." Sasuke stated.

Naruto beamed widely and cheered, talking about how the suna shinobi had eaten their dust and they'd proved to them that Konoha was not to be challenged. His positivity radiated off of him and onto Sakura and Sasuke, which made both of them smile a bit. The three of them finally arrived to the front of the Hokage tower. Sakura was relieved when she saw Hiruzen standing there, covered in blood, but alive and healed. He notified everyone to get a good rest and ordered the healthy shinobi to start helping out in clearing up the critical streets and infrastructure of wreckage.

Sakura bid her teammates goodbye, knowing that she would be much more helpful at the hospital than anywhere else. She entered the hall and saw that every health worker was rushing around, tending to the numerous wounded. Sakura quickly walked to the emergency wing and started healing some civilians and shinobi.

After a couple of hours, Anko entered the hall, dragging Kakashi behind her. The masked jonin's lone eye was clearly expressing his discomfort for being at the hospital. Sakura almost chuckled at his childish antics and approached the two of them.

"Hey! Sakura!" Anko smirked as she waved and walked to meet the pinkette halfway. Her hold on Kakashi tightened as she pulled him with her. "It's good to see that you are fine."

"You too." She smiled and then raised an eyebrow. "What brings you here?"

"Well, this idiot over here didn't want to have his injury checked out." Anko snorted. "So I had to drag him all the way. It's not worth the trouble, seriously."

"I never asked you to." Kakashi mumbled and leaned away from her as a way of showing his disagreement with her actions.

"Shut up!" she snarled and then turned to Sakura with a smile. "Have a look at him before he gets away, will ya?"

Sakura smiled awkwardly and nodded at Anko. She took hold of Kakashi's free arm and led him to a box, closely followed by the female jonin. Sakura turned him around and her eyes widened at the serious injury on his back. His spine was almost exposed because of a deep gash and he had horrible burns here and there.

"You wanted to leave this wound as it is?" she said in a low voice that had such an edge to it that even Kakashi visibly shuddered.

"Oh, well… ehehehe." He laughed nervously. "No. I just wanted to wait until the civilians had been taken care of, that's all."

"Lies!" Anko complained rather loudly and Kakashi turned his head to look at her in defiance. He was clearly more afraid of Sakura's temper than Anko's and had chosen his battle smartly.

As Sakura cleaned Kakashi's wound, she heard him and Anko arguing with one another for minutes. She secretly smiled to herself, since she'd never known Kakashi to be so open to anyone before. He was actually talking more than she'd ever heard him and she'd spent a lot of time with him in her previous life. She wondered if the two of them were friends, because she'd never seen them together a lot last time around. Maybe they'd become friends because of her own training with Anko?

As her hands sent healing chakra into her sensei's back, her mind focused on a different subject and her eyes started looking around.

Where was Tsunade? Of course she was an important shinobi with great experience and she would probably be needed in more than one place. However, whatever she could do anywhere else could be also done by another shinobi. After an invasion, the only reasonable place for Tsunade to be would be at the hospital. She was the best medic nin around, after all.

"Sakura?" Kakashi suddenly asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Oh. Actually, I am." Sakura said. "You see, yesterday Tsunade came to the hospital and watched me perform a procedure. She was pretty impressed and said that I had more potential than she'd ever seen." She almost blushed at that. "She told me to meet her after the exam. I figured that I'd find her here – it would be obvious, right? – but I haven't seen her around for hours."

Sakura was standing behind Kakashi and Anko, so she couldn't see her faces. But she noticed how the two of them visibly tensed at her words. Sakura felt anticipation build in her gut when none of them said anything at all.

"I'm just putting too much thought into it! I'll just have to find her later!" She laughed nervously. "Maybe she has some other business to attend to. She probably does; she's an experienced shinobi after all. The Hokage must've needed her opinion about something. Or maybe she was sent on a special mission because of the invasion. Maybe she even decided that she didn't want to be in Konoha anymore and left. Or-"

"Sakura." Kakashi interrupted her ranting with a serious voice. Sakura shut her mouth at once and gulped in worry.

"Tsunade was killed during battle, kiddo." Anko said with a seriousness that Sakura had only seldom seen in her face.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Kakashi said and Sakura figured that her expression was shocked. "You'll have to find another teacher."

"Oh-oh." Sakura shook her head and forced a smile. "Well, I truly wanted to learn from her, since she was the best and all. At least nobody close to us died… right?" Sakura knew that she was truly close to the blonde, but thankfully Kakashi just nodded at her and added "It was a great loss to the medic and shinobi professions, I'm sure the Hokage will have a public funeral for her."

"Y-yeah." Sakura said, gulping down the tears that were threatening to overflow. "She was said to be really strong though. How did it happen?"

"No one knows." Kakashi answered looking at the ground. "It's supposed to be confidential to non ANBU, so I don't know the details."

"O-oh. I see." Sakura said awkwardly. Noticing her weird discomfort, Anko and Kakashi remained quiet as her hands kept on sending healing chakra into his back.

Sakura had always been proud of her ability to think fast and clearly. Her analytical skills were excellent and she had polished them as years passed by. However, all of her rational thinking would always go to hell whenever she felt emotionally drained or compromised. If it had been someone else, Sakura would've probably found a plausible explanation for everything. Sadly, this was not just anybody, it was Tsunade. Sakura's mind was craving for an explanation to her death. She must've helped Sarutobi during his fight, because otherwise he would've died. It was strange and she was sure that there was something that she was overlooking. But she didn't have the mind to think about that right now. She had her hands full with healing Kakashi and keeping her emotions hidden. Sakura finally finished healing her sensei and cleared her throat to make sure her voice wouldn't sound broken.

"You're good to go." Sakura said patting him on the shoulder. "You'll have to take antibiotics for two days because of how long your wound was exposed. We don't want any infections spreading, so please do as I say."

"All right." Kakashi said and received the pills that she handed him. He stood up and looked into her eyes for a second.

Kakashi might not be the best when it comes to emotions. He was himself quite a handful and had some trouble dealing with them. Nonetheless, he noticed the way Sakura's face contorted into a slight smile. It was completely forced and, if he had to guess, he thought that she wanted to cry. Why though? She had only met Tsunade yesterday, so why would she react like that to the news? He didn't understand it, but that wasn't an excuse to not offer some help.

"Ehhh. Sakura." He scratched the back of his neck. "If you feel the need to... you know... if you want to..."

"Oh for fucks sake!" Anko snorted. "He's trying to tell ya that he'll be there for you if you need it."  
"That." Kakashi simply added with a nod.

"I'm here too, kiddo." Anko said.

"Oh, I'll keep that in mind if I ever do need it." Sakura smiled and waved them off, putting her mask back on. "I need to tend to others now, take care."

She quickly walked back into the hall, followed by her two teachers who turned towards the exit. Sakura felt her heartbeat speeding up and cold sweat on her temples. Her mind was on overdrive on a level that she even felt dizzy and unable to work anymore. The need to vent out and let her feelings flow out was almost unbearable. She looked around for a moment and saw that there were only a couple patients waiting and their wounds weren't grave. At the corner of the hall was the head of the hospital and she approached him.

"Sir." She said and he turned around to face her. When he saw her he smiled and opened his mouth to talk, probably to ask her for some help. Sakura was not about to let him do that. "I need to leave. I had long fights today during the chunin exam and during the invasion. I've healed at least 30 gravely injured people. If I keep going I could collapse at any time."

"Oh. I understand. Go on then and get some rest."

Sakura bowed shortly and thanked him for understanding. She quickly walked out of the hospital and into the streets. She was surprised to find that it was already night. Just how long had she been inside treating patients? She was actually pretty drained in a physical way too. Despite that, Sakura's heavy body walked towards her house in a hurried manner. She needed to have some time for herself as soon as possible. She finally reached the middle sized house and opened the door quickly.

"Sakura!" Her mother walked to her. "We've been so worried! Are you alight?"

"Yes. How about you two?" She said trying to sound reassuring and her parents nodded in answer. "I know that you want to talk about the invasion. But I'm so tired that I'll pass out any moment. We'll talk tomorrow."

Sakura's parents raised their eyebrows in curiosity but nodded nonetheless, figuring that she must've had a long day at the hospital. Sakura waved them goodnight and rushed to her bedroom. As soon as her door closed behind her, Sakura was consumed by her sorrow.

As she tried to cry soundlessly and pressed a pillow to her lips, she let herself fall to the floor. The feeling of losing Tsunade all over again was as hard as it had been the first time. Losing someone that had been like a mother to her made her feel like of a part of her soul, her life and her history had been torn away.

She could finally allow the suppressed feelings to flow out freely. She cried for a long time, until exhaustion - both physical and emotional – forced her to sleep.

At that moment, Sakura honestly believed that this event would be the most devastating she would be facing in this timeline - assuming that she would stop the ten tails from ever coming to life. She didn't know how wrong she was.

 **A/N: As promised! Another chapter!**

 **I'm sorry! I love Tsunade, but this had to be done. It'll create a chain of events that will completely change the plot. I hope that you liked the chapter and that you won't hold it against me!**

 **As always, I'd like to thank my beta reader, MonochromeAce. She's always a lot of help, since my English is not so good.**

 **I'd love to hear what you think about this chapter and about Tsunade's death. It always makes my day when I read a good input! Thank you all for reading a reviewing!**


	19. Parting

**CHAPTER 19**

At first, everything had been confusing to Sakura. The weight of grief and the strain from long hours of work had kept her mind numb the next whole day. Only after her death, had Sakura realized that it had indeed been weird for Tsunade to simply go to Konoha of her own accord. Before Jiraiya and Naruto had gone to find Tsunade in her previous life, her shishou had been completely against going back to Konoha. Tsunade had bad memories regarding the village and she couldn't stand the council – a feeling that Sakura had learned to share. It didn't make _any_ sense that she would go back to Konoha only to watch the chunin exams and meet a rumored genius medic. She must've had _other_ reasons for it.

However, what reason could she have had? Sakura's presence hadn't made any _real_ changes to the events up until that point except for the dynamics of her team and her ability as a medic. She seriously doubted that any of that could've created a series of changes important enough to accomplish such a feat. If her assumptions were right, then there must've been another factor that she had overlooked. But what? Did her travel back in time change something of importance that she wasn't thinking of?

Was it even Tsunade who had been there? Sakura had known her for _years_ and she was pretty sure that it had been her. However, she couldn't rely on her impressions alone and had to keep an open mind. Maybe there had been an impostor in Tsunade's place and he had been good enough for Sakura to not notice. If she only had doubted a bit of her shishou's presence instead of being overjoyed, she might've had the sense to check if it truly had been her. If it was indeed an impostor, she didn't know if it was better or worse news. Who would be strong and skilled enough to impersonate her without raising doubts even from the Hokage? Why would anyone want to do that anyways?

Sakura had these questions plaguing her mind all day, but she couldn't think of an answer. In the end, she decided to take matters into her own hands. It would be risky, but after the war she had become truly stealthy, enough to not be noticed by ANBU even. Besides, she had deep knowledge of most of Konoha's infrastructure, having been the Hokage's apprentice and all. So, she decided to break into the morgue of the village and take a look at her teacher's corpse for herself.

The night after the invasion, Sakura set off towards the building in which Tsunade was expected to be kept. She left her house through the window because her parents were still a bit protective of her – something she was partly glad of, but it truly could get in the way. She made sure that they were asleep and that she would only take a maximum of twenty minutes. The time was a pressing issue not only because of her parents, but also because of the tight security around the morgue. She was glad that she roughly knew what the schedules were, because it would've been riskier if she didn't. Sakura got to the morgue, located right next to the hospital, like a shadow and picked the lock. She opened it effortlessly in just a couple of seconds and jumped inside soundlessly. As she dashed through the corridors, she kept her sensor abilities on high alert, making sure that she would be alone in the building the whole time.

Sakura passed by the room where they kept most of the corpses, knowing that Tsunade's wouldn't be there. A special room existed for special cases, such as important citizens or truly strong shinobi. It was an especially well guarded room, because the village couldn't risk having the bodies of their leaders or the abilities of their strongest stolen. Thankfully, since Sakura had been practically head of the hospital in her past life, she knew the place well enough. As she neared the door, she put her hands on the walls, knowing exactly where the invisible seals were located. She passed her chakra through it slowly and the door opened up.

Sakura entered the room at once and closed the door behind her, knowing that the Hokage would be alerted by the system if it stayed open for more than thirty seconds. She walked straight to a column of large drawers, which stored corpses. She read through the signs and quickly found Tsunade's name on one of them. She closed her hand around the handle and took a deep breath. She would have to stray strong no matter what, because she couldn't afford to lose her mind now. She exhaled and pulled at the handle, sliding the cold morgue chamber open.

Lying there was Tsunade, cold and pale. Her body was that of her true age, with wrinkles on her face and with older hands. Sakura felt her eyes sting a bit at the sight, but quickly gathered herself. There were deep purple bags under her eyes, which Sakura could tell were due to exhaustion before her death and not because of physical decay. She passed her hands over Tsunade and allowed her chakra to flow through her body.

Sakura concluded that the body was _not_ a fake. It had truly been Tsunade all along and there was no doubt about it. Sakura felt tears well in her eyes and she had to remove her hands from the cold body. She slowly wiped away the tears and passed her hand through her hair in dismay. She had honestly hoped that it was a fake and that she would still have the chance to meet her shishou. Sakura shook her head to clear her thoughts and then looked back at her mentor.

Sakura's hands were on the corpse once more as she channeled her chakra through it. She checked on the vital organs one by one and finally came upon the heart. To any medic nin, Tsunade's death would've seemed like a natural death due to a heart attack. However, Sakura knew that such a thing was not possible.

For starters, her shishou had been constantly healing her body and keeping it as healthy as it could be for most of her life. There was no way she could've died of a heart attack, so Sakura assumed that someone had forced one on her. However, for someone to fake it and make it seem as natural as it did, they had to be truly gifted. Apart from that, Tsunade had the ability of regenerating her tissues instantly through her seal. If Tsunade died, she must've been out of chakra, otherwise it would've been impossible to kill her. If someone killed her right inside the village and nobody noticed who it was, then they must've done it quickly when she was alone and exhausted.

It did make sense that Tsunade ran out of chakra during the invasion. She had seen her using her slug summons to heal civilians and shinobi alike. Sakura also assumed that she had given Sarutobi a hand against Orochimaru, because he should've died otherwise. It was not strange that she had run out of chakra after all of that.

The issue was that only two people were supposed to know of her regenerating abilities in this timeline; Shizune and Sakura herself. The person who had killed Tsunade had known exactly when to strike. They must've been well aware of her weakness and had waited until the right moment.

The thought of that made a chill run down Sakura's spine. Why would anyone kill her but let Sarutobi and the rest of Konoha live? Sakura was certain that whoever had done it was no regular shinobi. Who on earth had done it? Would anyone hold a personal grudge against her in this timeline?

Sakura was about to put her body away when she suddenly remembered something. Tsunade always kept important things sealed away within a fake mole on her neck. Sakura leaned forwards to move a strand of hair to reveal the mole and placed her hands on it.

"Release!"

In front of her appeared a puff of smoke and she stretched out her hands to take hold of the item. When the smoke cleared away, Sakura noticed that it was a small creased piece of paper. She slowly straightened it up and read the words that were written in black ink.

' _The council is on the move. Watch out for Hiruzen.'_

 _What?! The council?!_

Was _that_ the reason why she'd come back to Konoha? It would make sense, since she truly cared about Sarutobi and she did hate the council. Sakura shook her head. They shouldn't be plotting anything at a time like this. Why would they target the Hokage? _How_ did anyone find out and why warn Tsunade of all people? Why wasn't the Hokage himself warned about it? Did Tsunade talk to him about it before she died?

Sakura took a deep breath in and glanced at Tsunade's face once again before closing the cold chamber softly. Sakura kept her thoughts at bay as she checked the room to make sure it was as she had found it and then walked out of the room.

She got home safely and made sure that no one had seen or heard her. She entered her room, sighing in relief when she realized that her parents hadn't noticed her absence. Sakura sat down on her bed, took off her clothes and got under the covers.

Tsunade was actually dead. The whole scenario had played out in a way where everything had turned out fine, except for _this_. Sakura just knew that she would've been able to do something about it if she'd been more careful. If she'd only stayed with her shishou after healing the civilians. If she'd only stopped Gaara before she would've been able to give her mentor support in healing the rest of the village. If only _Naruto_ hadn't called Gaara a monster, maybe he would've kept what little sanity he had left at that moment. If that had been the case, Sakura knew that _she_ could've done something to prevent Tsunade's death. She knew that it wasn't right to think that way of her best friend, but she couldn't help but curse Naruto's impulsiveness and loud mouth.

And now there was the looming threat of the corrupt council taking a different course of action in this timeline. There was a tight knot in her throat and a sinking feeling that whoever had killed Tsunade would make another move sooner or later. Sakura could only hope to find out who that was and have a plan before it happened. As sleep took over, after hours of restlessness, Sakura hoped she would get at least a few hours of sleep that night.

" _Sakura."_

" _Tsunade-shishou!" Sakura straightened up as she looked up from her book and into the chestnut eyes of her mentor._

" _How are you feeling?" Tsunade asked as she took a seat next to her student._

" _Err.. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Sakura asked as she forced a small smile._

" _Don't lie to me." She sighed. "You know what I mean; Sasuke joining the Akatsuki."_

" _I… I don't know what to feel about that." Sakura frowned and clenched her hands as she looked down at her lap. "I can't believe that he did that. I don't understand why he would join the criminal organization in which his brother once took part. What should I do? I know that since I'm a Konoha kunoichi I should hate him. Despise him. I should want to see his head roll after all he's done. But…" Sakura chocked on her upcoming tears. "But I don't. I love him even more than I did before. I don't have control over these feelings but I wish I did. It'll destroy me one day, shishou."_

" _It won't." Tsunade smiled. "Listen to me. It's true that you are a soldier from Konoha and that you have a duty. However, you are also Sakura. Not all of your life will be in line with your work. It's ok to have feelings that are not in the best interest of the village."_

" _You mean that?" Sakura's eyes widened and she wiped a lone tear away._

" _I'm not saying that you should deflect or betray us, because that would certainly be a bad decision. However, you shouldn't try to force your feelings away, because it'll only make things worse. It just means that you have a big heart and that you don't hold a grudge against the Uchiha brat. You can still hold on to your feelings, because love is_ never _a bad thing. You must understand that anyone can be loved, no matter how many bad choices they make in life. Accept that you love him despite the fact that you may be enemies now. You can fight and kill someone you love, if you believe it's the right thing to do. True strength comes from being able to separate both things and understand that love doesn't always mean being too indulgent."_

" _I… I think I understand what you mean." Sakura frowned. "But I don't think I'm strong enough. I always cry and I'm too emotional for my own good. It always gets in the way of everything I want to do. I'm_ weak. _"_

" _You're wrong. Accepting one's real feelings reflects true strength. You are not afraid of them and you're not afraid of letting others know about them. " Her hand traveled to Sakura's clenched hands and softly took a hold of them. "You may not realize it yet, but you are just like that. The feelings that move you forward are always noble. I'm certain that, when you're older and have more experience balancing those feelings and your duty, you'll be someone everyone will look up to." Sakura locked eyes with her shishou and the blonde smiled softly. Her hand left the pinkette's and her arm circled around her. "Sakura, always remember that you are strong. I'm proud of you."_

 **\- x -**

The Hokage had organized an elaborate ceremony for Tsunade's death. Everyone in the village had been asked to attend during the late afternoon of the second day after the invasion. Sakura finished her duty at the hospital and went home to get dressed in black. When she arrived to the funeral, she noticed that it was already packed with shinobi and that everyone was waiting for the Hokage to make a speech. Sakura quickly walked to the front and went to Tsunade's coffin. It was closed. She had hoped to at least get one last glimpse at her mentor's features before saying goodbye. Sakura inhaled slowly, steadily and kneeled in front of her shishou's coffin. She left a flower at the foot of it and closed her eyes for a second.

 _I'm grateful that I got to meet you in my past life and that you saw me not only as a student, but as a daughter. I had hoped to meet you in this life again… I'm sorry for letting you die, shishou. Let your soul find rest from all the pain and hardship that it's been put through. Thank you for everything you did. I love you so much._

Sakura stayed kneeled for another moment before standing up and moving aside, allowing someone else to step closer to Tsunade's body. Sakura looked to the side and noticed that Shizune was standing on the right side of her shishou's coffin. Had she seen Tsunade's death? Was she somewhere else when it had happened? Sakura soon forgot her questions when she took a good look at her future – or previous – friend's face. There were dark bags under her eyes and her expression was just devastating. Tsunade had been the only person that she'd ever had to rely on for the longest time. Sakura could only imagine how much worse her pain was.

Sakura had always taken to heart her shishou's advice on not being afraid of showing her true feelings. It had always been the most honest and easiest way of dealing with anything. Sadly, she knew that this was not the case at the moment. Her feelings had to remain a secret if she wanted to protect Sasuke from the council. Hell, her whole identity was to be kept hidden. She wasn't even supposed to know Tsunade. Sakura had prayed more than expected of a stranger, but she had allowed herself that gesture. However, crying or weeping, or even showing more grief than average was out of the question.

Sakura walked back to the audience slowly and with her eyes trained on the ground. The suppressed emotions of sadness and guilt were dwelling inside of her and disturbing her usual demeanor. She could feel the negative emotions build up into something unstable inside of her. She had been keeping them at bay for the whole day after all.

Sakura found a spot in the back of the audience, where there were mostly civilians that had barely even heard of Tsunade. Soon, the Hokage walked up the stage and everyone stopped whispering altogether.

"First of all, I want to thank you all for attending." He began with a deep low voice. "Tsunade was my student for many years. She had one of the gentlest souls amongst shinobi. I always remember how furiously she had refused to kill anyone on her first higher ranked missions. Most people in the profession said that she was no good and that she better find a different job. However, Tsunade was a stubborn person and she refused to back down. She kept saying that her reason for being a shinobi was to protect her loved ones and her village, but that she didn't want to spill blood unless absolutely necessary.

It was precisely that way of thinking that made her into one of the three sanin, the strongest shinobi team of our time. Her dedication to life and peace pushed her to develop the use of chakra for medical procedures on a whole new level. Tsunade's strength didn't rely on destruction or death - that didn't mean she was an opponent to be taken lightly - but on her ability to save lives. I remember that her thirst for justice and life always created the most unexpected turn of events during missions. More than once she defied orders and offered to heal one of the opponents in exchange for peace. At the time I was sometimes aggravated by her actions, but I was young and I hadn't realized the real value of her perspective. I now see her as she truly was; a person with an undying love for humanity and a strong sense of justice. If the leaders of the countries and shinobi villages had only a fraction of her kindness, then the world would be a better place for those who are unprotected.

Just as she had been doing all her life, she chose to save as many lives as possible two days ago. When the attack started she stubbornly tried to talk the fake Kazekage into peace, saying that we could try to find a solution that was suitable for all parties. When that failed, she decided to use her medical expertise to heal the injured around the village. We believe that she healed about five hundred civilians and shinobi that day. After that, she came to my aid and fought alongside me in my battle against the enemy. I had almost forgotten about the terrifying offensive strength she possessed. If it weren't for her intervention I would not have survived the encounter. Her presence in our village during the attack was a blessing and maybe the outcome would've been completely different if she hadn't come.

We owe her so much. I owe her so much. I think I speak in behalf of everyone here when I say that we are grateful for her sacrifice. Her soul will always be a part of the eternal flame that burns within the people of Konoha and she will always be remembered as a hero." Sarutobi walked a couple steps to the coffin and laid a flower on the floor in front of it. He then placed his hand on the wooden surface and closed his eyes.

"Rest in peace."

The speech ended and everyone started moving away, slowly leaving the courtyard. However, Sakura was frozen in place and had her eyes lost in the distance. She had been struggling to keep a straight face for the whole ceremony and felt like she was about to break down anytime now. She had stopped suppressing her emotions a while ago and she was now reminded of just how terrible it felt. It was like poison. On some level she felt she could relate to Sasuke at that moment, knowing that he had kept his feelings to himself for most of his life. Sakura closed her eyes for another moment and took a deep breath to try and calm her inner turmoil, she was on the brink of shaking.

"Saaakura-chan!" a voice brought Sakura out of her thoughts and she opened her eyes to see Sasuke and Naruto walking her way. The blonde was running to her with a smile on his face and waving furiously.

"Hey." Sakura greeted back and tried to get a better hold of her emotions as they came to a stop in front of her.

"We haven't seen you since the invasion." Sasuke pointed out.

"I've been busy at the hospital." Sakura said shortly and looked aside, expecting her teammates to understand that she had a lot to do and leave her alone.

"Well, I'm kidnapping you from those slave drivers for rest of today and we're all going to Ichiraku's! I'm sure that _you_ haven't had the time to celebrate." Naruto beamed and took a hold of Sakura's hand and pulled her forward.

" _Celebrate?_ " Sakura hissed and pulled her hand back. Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at her with surprise.

"Well… we won. We should celebrate, shouldn't we?" the blonde said and gestured towards the center of the city with his head, expecting Sakura to accept his invitation.

" _You_ want to celebrate?" Sakura growled and tightened her fists on her sides. "Don't you know what you've done?!"

"What?" Naruto's eyes widened and Sasuke seemed a bit stunned at his side.

"Howmuch of an idiot can you actually be to go out to the enemy and call him a monster?!" Sakura practically spat. "If you hadn't done that maybe Gaara would have never lost control!"

"What the hell!" Naruto gaped. "I know I shouldn't have, but nothing bad happened because of it!"

"Of course it did!" Sakura barked back at him. "If Tsunade hadn't had to heal everyone that Gaara injured or if I'd stayed with her as a supporting medic, maybe she'd be alive now! You call that _nothing_?!"

"You're completely over-reacting!" Naruto yelled back with a voice that sounded a bit broken and hurt clear in his eyes at the harsh words of his friend. "There are always casualties during a war or an invasion! She could've died anyways! You can't blame it all on me!"

"Shut up." Sakura grunted as her tense arms shook at her sides. " _You_ have no idea what could've happened. _You_ were the one who didn't even think of the consequences as you came and insulted someone you thought was a monster! _You_ should know that maybe her death is on you."

Naruto widened his eyes at Sakura once again. He opened his mouth to say something else, but no sound came out. He closed his mouth and looked at the floor, his bangs covering his eyes. A couple seconds of tense silence went by as the three of them stood motionlessly.

"Whatever." Naruto seethed and turned around to run away.

Sakura stood there in the now empty courtyard as she covered her face with her hands for a moment. She took a deep breath in and then exhaled steadily to clear her mind. Her mind had been such a confusing swirl of emotions that she barely recalled what she'd said to Naruto. The only thing left in her now was a nasty taste in her mouth and a bigger knot in her throat. Sakura looked up from the floor with dismay and noticed that Sasuke was still standing next to her. His sharp eyes were directed at her and he was thoroughly scrutinizing her.

"What's wrong with you?" He said in a calm voice, but she could tell that there was some disappointment in his eyes when he spoke.

"I..." Sakura said but felt her words stuck on her tongue. What was she even supposed to say? "I think I fucked up."

"You did." Sasuke said seriously. "I know Naruto might be an idiot sometimes, but he doesn't deserve to be treated like that. I've never seen you talk to him that way. Even I wouldn't speak to him so harshly now."

"I know." Sakura whispered and felt tears well in her eyes. "I wasn't thinking straight."

Sakura suddenly felt overly self-conscious and she was about to burst into tears right there. She turned around and was about to take a step away from Sasuke, but a firm hold on her hand stopped her dead in her tracks. Sakura stopped walking but didn't turn around, knowing that Sasuke was right behind her.

"You didn't answer my question." He said in a voice that Sakura swore was almost kind. "What's wrong with you?"

Sakura didn't turn to face him as she felt the dam that held her feelings in place break apart. As the tears started flowing freely down her cheeks, she couldn't keep the whimpers from escaping her lips. She put her free hand over her lower face as she tried to get a hold of herself, but failed. Sakura had expected Sasuke to release his hold on her hand. But as seconds passed and he didn't, she concluded that he would not let her go without an explanation.

Sakura slowly turned around and looked at Sasuke's face. Even though his body was a bit tense due to his probable uneasiness around a crying person, Sakura saw the determination evident on his face. She looked down at his grasp on her forearm and he slowly released her, as if expecting her to run off.

"I... I lashed out at Naruto because something happened." Sakura said uneasily as she tried to keep her crying at bay. She bit her lower lip as she thought of a way to end the subject. "He didn't deserve it and I will apologize, so you don't have to worry."

"He'll be fine after you clear things up with him." He said and eyed her with observant eyes. "I've never seen you like this. _What_ exactly happened?"

"I..." Sakura said in a low voice and wondered what she could tell him. Sasuke was smart; he was not going to buy some lame excuse and Sakura couldn't figure out a plausible reason that he figure as a lie. Her eyes were troubled and there was a frown on her features as she looked into his eyes. "I... I can't tell you. Not yet."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he watched her with what appeared to be concern. Sakura was almost surprised to see that look on his face, since she'd never ever seen him give look that look to anyone. A couple seconds passed by and Sakura was expecting him to press further for answers when he finally spoke up.

"All right. But if you run into any trouble know that you can count on us." He said calmly and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Sakura's eyes widened further at the overall calm way he was reacting towards her. After her previous life, Sakura had become used to being treated kind of badly and impatiently by Sasuke. The fact that he was actually being considerate and nice to her made her feel less terrible about herself.

"Thank you." She smiled and wiped her tears from her cheek with the back of her hand.

"What for?" Sasuke asked with his hand still on her shoulder.

"For being here. For caring." Sakura said knowing that the word 'care' might be stretching reality a bit.

"Don't thank me. It's what we're supposed to do, right?" He shrugged nonchalantly but there was a slight blush on his cheeks.

Sakura smiled at his shyness and wondered if he'd meant it as a teammate or as a friend. However, before Sakura could think of saying anything else, a poof of smoke materialized next to them.

"Yo!" Kakashi waved. "It's good to see you two together. The Hokage wants the two of you in his office immediately."

Sakura and Sasuke quietly wondered what was going on, but nodded nonetheless. Kakashi looked at Sakura for a moment, probably noticing that she'd been crying. Thankfully, he seemed to realized that it was none of his business, because he simply waved them goodbye and poofed away. Sasuke looked at Sakura, who still seemed a bit shaken due to the recent events.

"Sakura." he called her. "We can't keep him waiting."

"I know." she closed her eyes for a second. "I'll be fine. Let's go."

They started walking towards the appointed place side by side. Sakura managed to gather herself on the way and made sure that her eyes didn't seem too red or puffy. Five minutes later, they were walking through the doors to the Hokage's office.

"Finally." Sarutobi motioned for them to stand in front of him. Sakura and Sasuke did so and came to a stop next to Shikamaru, who was also standing in front of the Hokage. "I have a lot to do, so I will tell you this straight. You three passed the chunin exam."

"Really?" Sakura asked after a couple seconds of silence. "Wasn't the exam cancelled because of the invasion?"

"It was. But I saw enough." The Hokage said. "Sasuke showed great fighting abilities during his fight with Kankuro. He also displayed his ability to use slightly advanced tactical thinking. Apart from that, he also won against an older shinobi, who not only is strong but was also trained by the Kazekage." He nodded at Sasuke.

"Thank you, sir." Sasuke managed to speak through his surprise.

"Secondly, Sakura's fight against Gaara also showed advanced fighting skills. Her tactical skills were of an average level, but I heard that she showed great leadership during the invasion when there were wounded civilians. Apart from that, Tsunade seemed to notice your abilities, since she asked for your match to be postponed so that she could watch it." He nodded at Sakura.

"Thank you, sir." She bowed slightly, trying to keep her emotions at Tsunade's name at bay.

"And last but not least, Shikamaru. You lost your fight against Temari and only showed medium level fighting skills. However, I heard that your tactical abilities during the invasion were outstanding. You managed to make a complex strategy to divert the enemy and keep them at bay. You also showed great leadership and innately commanded chunins in a chaotic situation." He nodded at Shikamaru.

"Thank you, sir." He repeated the same words as the other two shinobi at his side.

"After a bit of consideration, I came to the conclusion that you three are good enough to become chunin even though you're still young. Your abilities would be wasted on D and C ranked missions and we need more manpower now that the village had tightened its security." The Hokage said and motioned for an ANBU that was next to him to come closer. "Please bring their new chunin vests now." The ANBU nodded once and disappeared from the room. "So, this may seem a bit sudden, but I have a mission for you."

The Hokage stood up from his armchair and walked to a bookcase that was behind him. It was filled with scrolls and some of them were even about to fall off due of the lack of room. As Sarutobi looked around, the three newly promoted chunin looked at each other with curiosity. It was certainly strange for them to get promoted _and_ sent on a mission at the same time.

"Here it is." Their leader finally said as he took a scroll and sat back down. He handed it to Shikamaru and he took it immediately. "The mission I've assigned to you is to accompany Suna's party back to their village. Many of their shinobi are hurt and therefore their ability to defend themselves has been compromised. The Kazekage was killed by Orochimaru and his three children are amongst the group, so they might be targeted by enemies. This mission is important because we've had a hard time establishing a minimal amount of peace between our two villages and this is a chance to show our willingness to keep good relations. The three of you might be wondering why it is that the three of you will be assigned to this." The three chunin nodded their heads. "The village is in great need of protection, so every high-ranked shinobi are being assigned to guard duty. Genin aren't allowed to leave the village without their jonin-sensei, so they don't qualify. Every other chunin are already familiar with our security protocol. So, the most logical solution was for the three of you, who just passed the chunin exam, to go. Besides that, you all seem to be rather collected, responsible, and smart. So I don't think you'll fail this mission. _Don't_ , because it'll only make securing peace with Suna even harder."

"Hai!" the three responded. The ANBU came into the office once again and handed a chunin vest to each of them.

"Shikamaru, you'll be in charge of this B-ranked mission and there's a map inside. It'll be of help in case anything happens on your way back."

"Thank you, sir." Shikamaru nodded. "When will we be leaving?"

"Suna's party only stayed to attend Tsunade's funeral out of respect. You can imagine that they have a lot to deal with back in their own village, so they'll be leaving in half an hour. You have just enough time to go home, throw together a travelling bag, and get to the village gates. Get going now, we don't want you to keep them waiting."

"Hai!"

The three of them bowed at the Hokage and quickly left the room. As soon as they were out of the building and on the street, Shikamaru took off. Sasuke was about to do the same when he noticed Sakura staring at the pavement with a frown.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Naruto. I can't leave for _weeks_ without apologizing to him first." She frowned.

"I know." Sasuke nodded once. "If we run to find him we can still manage to get to the gates in time."

Sakura raised her eyebrows at the implied offer of company in his sentence and smiled. The two of them took off at a great speed towards Naruto's place, jumping above rooftops. They soon got to the run-down building in which Naruto lived. They arrived at his front door and Sakura knocked on it a couple times.

"Naruto! It's me, Sakura!" she called. "I'm so sorry. Please let me in for a moment."

Sadly, no one answered the door and Sakura felt that her time was running out. They had their first mission as chunin and they couldn't show up _late_ for it. She sighed and her shoulders dropped considerably. She was about to turn around and leave for good, when she felt Sasuke shuffle behind her. Sakura turned around and saw that he was handing her a small piece of paper and a bit of ink that they'd usually use for writing seals.

"Sasuke." She smiled honestly and her eyes softened. "Thank you."

Sasuke just averted his eyes, still shy about being thanked so openly. Sakura took the paper and ink from him and kneeled on the ground.

 _Naruto. Sasuke and I are being sent away on a mission for a couple of weeks. I wanted to talk to you before leaving, but you were not home. Know that I deeply regret what I said. You're my best friend and you mean so much to me. Please let's talk this through when I come back. Love, Sakura._

Sakura pushed the small piece of paper under his door with enough force so that Naruto wouldn't step on in when walking through the door. She stood up once again and exhaled softly. She turned to Sasuke and they shared a nod, silently agreeing on meeting at the Gates.

Sakura ran home at top speed and quickly entered her bedroom. She gathered traveling clothes, some other basic necessities, a bit of food, and medical supplies into a bag. She walked down the stairs quickly and saw that her father was standing in the kitchen. He saw her wearing her chunin vest and jumped in surprise. He ran towards her and hugged her tightly as he shouted his congratulations. She immediately informed him that she would be gone for a couple of weeks on a mission and he wished her luck with a wide smile.

Sakura got to the gates just in time and noticed that Shikamaru was already there. Sasuke got there just a couple seconds later and they all looked around to make sure everyone was there before leaving. As the whole party walked out of the village, Sakura looked back over her shoulder. She had half expected to see Naruto standing there and watching her, but he was nowhere in sight. She turned around once again and sighed, her inner turmoil becoming alive once again, now that her mind had no more distractions.

"Don't worry." Sasuke simply said.

Sakura nodded absentmindedly, but her worries never left her. She'd never fought with Naruto before, not like this at least. Apart from that, she hadn't gotten the chance to tell him she was sorry. What if he didn't find the note? What if he built a grudge against her in the time that she was gone?

If something was _supposed_ to survive and last against all odds in this timeline, it was her friendship with Naruto. She would be damned if she lost that.

 **A/N: OK! Here goes chapter 19. To all of you who thought that Tsunade might've lived…sorry. It was sad to write this chapter, since I really like her as a character.**

 **What did you guys think of Sakura and Naruto's exchange? And her interaction with Sasuke afterwards?**

 **Sakura, Sasuke and Shikamaru are now chunin! Is that too weird?**

 **On top of everything, the three of them were sent on a mission.**

 **I want to thank my beta MonochromeAce for her help, and also everyone who reviews!**

 **Cheers!**


	20. Journey to Suna

**CHAPTER 20**

The journey to Suna was anything but pleasant. After three days of walking, the landscape had turned from a lush green forest into bushlands and then into an unprotected steppe. While the first two nights of camp had been comfortable enough, the climate of the steppe was a completely different matter. First of all, due to the lack of atmospheric humidity, the days had become increasingly hot and the nights increasingly cold. Apart from that, the lack of trees did little to protect them from the strong winds, so the freezing nights were even harder to endure.

Sakura had travelled to Suna a couple times in her previous life, so she had foreseen how troublesome it was going to get. She had packed a warm blanket for nighttime and thin clothes for their travels during day. Shikamaru was an incredibly smart boy and had a family that knew the terrain well enough, so he had also packed everything that he needed. However, Sasuke had apparently not thought things through. Not only had he never gone to Suna before but he also lived on his own and had been in as much of a rush as she had. The first two nights had been as he had probably expected, but now there was a deep scowl on his face as he sat in front of the fire the travelling group had built, which was clearly not enough to keep him warm with only a thin blanket covering him. He was just finishing his portion of food when a voice called out to him.

"You really didn't think things through when you packed your stuff, huh?" Sakura chuckled as she sat down next to him with her warm blanked wrapped around herself.

"You could've warned me too." He scowled and averted his eyes. His pride must've been hurt when realizing that he'd been the only one to oversee the conditions of their travel.

"Sorry." Sakura sheepishly smiled and then looked at the fire that was burning in front of them. "When we parted ways after going to Naruto's I was not thinking about the mission at all."

"I know." He said.

Sakura moved a bit to unfold her blanket and handed one end to Sasuke, wordlessly offering him to share. He looked at the floor stubbornly and shook his head in refusal. Sakura sighed in defeat and wrapped herself once again. Ever since they'd left Konoha, Sakura hadn't had much of a conversation with Sasuke because they had made the most of the day and had only made camp to sleep. Now that they were nearing the desert, they were forced to build a fire a bit before dusk and thus had more free time. Now that she had more time to think, she looked at the fire and felt her mind filled with worries about Naruto once again.

"Do you think that Naruto will forgive me?" she said in almost a whisper.

"Don't tell me you're still worried about that." Sasuke raised an eyebrow and stole a glance at her.

"Well… I said some pretty harsh things at him back there. After years of friendship I'd never talked to him that way, you said it yourself. Besides, I left immediately after that and probably won't have the chance to apologize for weeks. He must've found out that we left already and I can only imagine how angry he must be."

"I don't think he's angry at you; I think he's hurt." Sasuke reassured her, but it only made her feel worse. "I'm certain that once you talk to him he will forgive you. I don't know if he's told _you_ , but he's told me how much you mean to him."

"He has?" Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah." Sasuke's eyes were trained on the fire. "He told me that he'd been alone all his life until you decided to be friends with him. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so grateful of having a friend. I'm sure that the two of you will work things out."

Sakura looked down at her hands and felt her own confidence on their friendship come back at the Uchiha's words. She actually _knew_ that they would be friends for a long time, but couldn't help feeling worried and guilty at her actions. As the silence stretched for a bit, her inner turmoil calmed once again.

"Why aren't you wearing something warm?" Shikamaru's voice rang as he neared his fellow chunin, covered in a blanket as well. Sasuke averted his eyes and Shikamaru grunted in dismay. "Don't tell me that you forgot to pack clothes for the cold."

"He didn't." Sakura answered for him when he remained quiet once again.

"So troublesome." Shikamaru groaned and then eyed Sakura. "Why aren't you sharing with him?"

"Err…" she bit her lip as she thought of an answer that didn't make Sasuke look bad.

"I refused. It's my responsibility, so she doesn't need to." Sasuke said.

"Well, _you_ are my responsibility during this mission and I don't want any of you getting sick in the desert." Shikamaru said seriously and sat on the other side of Sasuke. He unfolded his blanket and handed one end to Sasuke. "Take it, I should've told you to pack something warm anyways. If the three of us share we probably won't be cold."

Sasuke reluctantly looked at the Nara boy, quietly disagreeing with him. But Shikamaru lazily raised an eyebrow at him and Sasuke had no choice but to take it. Sakura giggled a bit at their antics and wrapped Sasuke in her own blanket as well. The Uchiha closed his eyes in discomfort at having his personal space reduced to almost zero, but said nothing else.

"I know that you're not happy with this, Uchiha." Shikamaru said after a moment of silence. "But we can't jeopardize this mission."

"That's true." Sakura pointed out. "Both Konoha and Suna are quite unstable, since we were just invaded and they lost their Kage. If we want to ensure some minimum level of security for our homes, we have to make sure that we're at least working together. If we don't, we will be seen as weak by other nations and they might take the chance to try to take us down."

"Exactly." Shikamaru said. "Konoha's defensive force is quite understaffed right now due to the large amount of shinobi that are being asked to guard the towns near the village. If something were to happen, the time needed to inform the Hokage and make a move would be short."

"Not only that." Sakura added. "Our village is currently putting a great amount of human resources into rebuilding what was destroyed. That feat is not only being carried out by civilians, but genin and low level chunin as well. This means that both the productive activities and shinobi missions will decrease tremendously. If our economy is too slow it'll be a weak spot for other nations to take advantage of. Armed attacks aren't the only way to bring a nation down. In fact, the most efficient way to do that is by destroying their economy and political stability. Both Konoha and Suna will be easy targets for at least a couple months until things have settled down a bit."

"Making an alliance with Suna will make up for that temporary weakness." Sasuke nodded in understanding. "Especially considering that every other shinobi village has no long-term allies and usually act on their own."

"Yes." Sakura casted a glance at him and Sasuke almost flinched at the seriousness in her eyes. "So, Shikamaru is right. We can't afford to have you getting sick while crossing the desert and putting our mission in danger."

Sasuke sighed softly and looked at the ground in defeat. Both shinobi at his sides had practically left him with no other choice but to fully cooperate with their intentions of _sharing blankets._ He made a mental note to make sure to take everything that he needed for his next missions so that he wouldn't have to go through this again.

Shikamaru eyed Sakura for a second from the other side of the Uchiha. She had noticed that he had sent a couple examining glances her way since their departure, but had tried to ignore them to the best of her ability. With Tsunade's death and her argument with Naruto she had enough on her mind and didn't want to even think about the Nara's apparent suspicions. A minute or two were spent in silence as they watched the fire burn in front of them until Temari approached the group of Konoha shinobi.

"Hey." She greeted as she sat down in front of them and they nodded in response. "I wanted to apologize for the trouble we caused. My brothers and I had noticed that something seemed off with our father, but had dismissed it when we shouldn't have."

"It was probably for the best. Orochimaru would certainly have killed anyone suspicious of him." Sakura added. "I'm sorry about your father."

Temari nodded gratefully at the pinkette and then quickly looked at the other two teens in front of her. She frowned for a moment and then pointed at Shikamaru.

"Oi. How come you became a chunin?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I can see why Sakura and Sasuke passed the exam, because they showed great ability during their fights. But why did _you_ pass? I was the one to win our fight."

"The Hokage considered that the leading abilities and tactical thinking I showed during the invasion were outstanding – his words not mine – so he decided that I was to become a chunin too." He answered bluntly.

"Well, you will definitely have to improve your fighting skills, because according to what I experienced you wouldn't last a minute against a regular chunin." Temari said seriously and threw a twig into the fire that was burning in front of her. Shikamaru's eye twitched and she noticed that her words might be taken as offending. "I don't mean it in a negative way; I'm just giving you a piece of advice. I can tell that you're smart and that you'd be a good team leader, but you also probably don't want to drag your team down."

"Eh, thank you I guess." Shikamaru said with a hint of laziness in his voice.

"When _you_ become strong enough I will fight you once again and prove that a sharp mind isn't all that's needed to be a good shinobi. I will become a chunin in the next exam, so you better be prepared for that."

"Whatever." Shikamaru sighed. "That's so troublesome."

Temari laughed loudly as she stood up and then left their spot. The three of Konoha nin watched as the group of Suna – which consisted in around 7 members – finished their dinner and started getting ready for sleep.

Shikamaru didn't blame Sasuke for being reluctant when it came to sharing blankets and bedrolls with them. He thought that it was pretty awkward too and he was definitely going to get the best deal out the arrangement.

"I say that it's you who should sleep in the middle, Sasuke." He said before anyone could suggest anything else. "After all, it was you who forgot to bring something warmer."

"Tch. All right." Sasuke said and watched as Shikamaru motioned for the three of them to lay down. They did and Sasuke immediately turned to the right, since he had never been able to sleep on his back. He had chosen to face Shikamaru, because he knew that facing Sakura might be a bit uncomfortable since she was a female.

"And _don't_ try to cuddle with me." Shikamaru warned.

Sasuke quietly cursed the Nara for that and turned to his other side. Sakura was right in front of him. She was so close that he could actually detect her scent and some of her short hair brushing against his nose. The close proximity to his female friend was something that had never bothered him before in this kind of situation. But for some reason now it did. He felt a bit restless and couldn't tear his mind from the bits of pink hair that were tingling his face. Sasuke sighed and brushed her hair aside with the back of his hand before closing his eyes and forcing himself to fall asleep.

Sakura was trying hard to get control of herself. His body was so close to her that she could feel his body heat on her back and legs. Apart from that, Sasuke's fingers against the hair on the nape of her neck had sent shivers all the way down her spine. It was crazy what Sasuke's touch did to her, but she was refusing to fully acknowledge that train of thought. Sakura didn't know if she should be grateful for Shikamaru or not.

She guessed that she had to be. The past nights had been quite difficult for her, because she kept on having dreams about Tsunade's death. However, she had managed to find a sleeping spot that was as secluded as it could get without raising suspicions. She had actually woken up a couple times at night shaking and breathing hard, but had been too far for anyone to notice. Now that she'd been forced to sleep with Shikamaru and Sasuke, she was quite worried that she'd wake them up. With the distraction of Sasuke's body practically spooning her own, she guessed that the chances of having a nightmare were much lower.

Sakura knew that it wasn't right to think that way since Sasuke didn't have a _choice_ on the matter and he would be appalled if he knew. But Sakura just _had_ to relish in the feeling of Sasuke's closeness. Not only were they incredibly close, but they were also sharing a blanket. The whole scenario seemed so intimate – in her mind at least, because she knew that it was not – that she felt a small smile tug at her lips.

Suddenly, a small chuckle brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see Temari watching her intently. She had raised an eyebrow and there was a playful smirk on her lips. Sakura had been busted… just what kind of face had she made just now?! The pinkette felt heat come to her cheeks and immediately closed her eyes, feigning sleep. She wished that she could just turn around and avoid the feeling of Temari observing her, but she couldn't just sleep _face to face_ with Sasuke. So she simply bore it and waited until sleep overcame her.

 **-x-**

The next day the whole group had left at first light. They wanted to cover as much ground as possible before the scorching heat of midday was upon them. Sakura hadn't had any nightmares that night and was now deeply grateful that she'd been able to sleep next to Sasuke. Having four straight nights of barely any sleep after the last phase of the chunin exam had made her agitated and tense. Sleeping next to someone that meant so much to her had seemed to somehow ease her troubles.

Unluckily, Temari had not forgotten what she'd seen last night. Because as she walked next to her brothers or Shikamaru – for some reason they'd been hanging out a bit during their travel – she had thrown a couple of smug smirks at Sakura. Every time she did, Sakura had been forced to look away and pretend like she hadn't noticed her whimsical behavior.

"Is something going on between the two of you?" Sasuke asked out of the blue.

"Huh?" Sakura turned to look at him slightly surprised, because he hadn't said a word for hours. It was to be expected, the searing sun had been ruthless enough to make the three Konoha shinobi lazy and unwilling to make any additional effort. The people from Suna were not only used to this kind of exposure, but they could also use the Sunblock technique. Sakura knew how to use it as well, so she'd been the most alert of the three of them, but it still didn't prepare her for Sasuke's sudden question.

"I _said_." He gritted his teeth as he swept some more sweat off his forehead; the hot dry climate of the desert had only shortened his already limited patience. "Is there something going on between Temari and you?"

"Oh. Not at all." Sakura waved him off nonchalantly. "Why do you ask?"

"I've noticed how she keeps throwing these mocking glances your way."

"She has?"

" _Sakura._ I know you too well." Sasuke groaned. "I can tell that you've been trying to avoid eye contact with her all this time."

"Oh." Sakura said and looked at her feet. "It's nothing. Just some harmless teasing."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her answer and then turned to look at the blonde kunoichi. She was telling Shikamaru something and was grinning as he frowned and shrugged lazily. Her apparent teasing stopped once she sensed Sasuke's eyes on her and she looked up. As soon as she noticed that he was eyeing her questioningly she beamed widely and marched their way. Sakura immediately figured out what she was planning as she was already familiar with Temari's sense of humor.

 _Oh, please don't._

"So!" she said as she started walking next to Sasuke. "How's our cuddling couple handling the sun, huh?"

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise and turned to look to the other side, where Sakura was. She groaned in dismay and rubbed her temples as she leaned forward in order to have a better look at Temari, pointedly ignoring Sasuke's eyes.

"The _sun_ is not a problem, thank you very much." Sakura forced a smile. Her eyes trailed towards Shikamaru before locking back on the blonde's face. "I can see that you have your own plans for cuddling, so if you need someone to take your blanket I would gladly take it off your hands."

"What?!" she gaped. "I would never take a second look at that brat!"

"That's not what it looks like to me." Sakura smirked and Sasuke snorted next to her, further annoying Temari.

Temari gaped a bit at Sakura and then smirked widely to Sakura's surprise. She stopped for a second and then walked behind both Konoha shinobi to end up on Sakura's side. Her arm circled around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

"You're not that bad, huh?" Temari laughed loudly. "I never imagined that a thirteen year old girl with _pink_ hair would respond that way. I like you."

Sakura laughed lightly and watched as Temari immediately retreated, noticing her slight awkwardness after Sakura pointed Shikamaru out. The pinkette sighed and then looked at Sasuke, who returned the look with a raised eyebrow.

"She was teasing you about _that_?"

"Yeah. Pretty ridiculous, huh?" Sakura said with the best poker face she could manage.

"Absolutely. It was just something that needed to be done to secure the mission's success." He said seriously and looked up ahead.

Sakura and Sasuke stayed mostly quiet for the rest of the day and only exchanged a couple words. After Temari's blunt comment, she'd become too shy to say anything else to Sasuke. She kept wondering if he would notice something weird in her behavior, but at least he didn't say anything about it.

After a whole day of walking through the desert, enduring not only the hot temperature and wind, but also the lack of moisture in the air and the sand that kept on getting everywhere, the air finally began to cool down. In a matter of minutes, the unbearably hot climate became unbearably cold. They were supposed to arrive in Suna a couple hours ago, but since most of Suna's party was injured the traveling pace was slightly slower. Thankfully, the Sand village was already in sight and they would probably reach the village gates in about fifteen minutes.

Sakura wanted to take out her blanket right then and there, because the cold was freezing her to the bone. She could also see Sasuke slightly shaking next to her. Sakura knew that it would not look good to enter the village wrapped up in a thick warm blanket, so she didn't even think about it. However, it didn't hurt to imagine how good it would feel.

A tiny jolt in the surroundings suddenly alerted Sakura. She quickly looked around and noticed that everyone else was walking as if they'd felt nothing. It had been so small that only a high level jonin would be able to sense it – or any other shinobi that had lived after the ten-tails appearance. Sakura quickly eyed Shikamaru and saw that he was fortuitously looking at her. She cursed inwardly, knowing that he would be _even_ more suspicious if she were to feel a presence not even the present jonin had. So she waited.

A couple seconds later, one of the jonin from Suna turned around sharply and yelled so that everyone was on guard. Suddenly, the soil cracked open and at least fifteen unknown shinobi burst out of the ground. Shikamaru, who was on the other side of the crowd, immediately turned to look at the rest of his team.

"Surround them!" he yelled as he signaled to the group of injured Suna shinobi.

Sakura and Sasuke moved in the blink of an eye and immediately crouched down in defensive positions. The Sand siblings were also on the move fighting the enemies that were trying to attack the injured. Both members of Team 7 quickly engaged into taijutsu battles with one enemy each. It seemed that the one's they were fighting were low level chunin – maybe even genin – because after a couple moves the unknown shinobi were knocked out cold.

Sakura turned around and saw that Shikamaru was fighting alongside Temari – _figures_ – and Gaara was fighting on his own. Abruptly, she felt a presence behind her and moved just in time block a strong blow to her neck with her forearm. A taijutsu fight with the middle aged kunoichi quickly escalated in brute force and speed. Sakura was barely keeping up with the person she was fighting against even with a bit of chakra and feared that she would have to expose some of her monstrous strength to win this one.

Thankfully, Sasuke came from her right side – it seemed that he had already finished another opponent – and kicked the foreign kunoichi in the ribs. Sakura immediately jumped at her opponent and engaged in battle once again, knowing using any water jutsus would drain too much chakra in this dry climate. She locked eyes with the Uchiha for a split second and he immediately understood her message. As Sasuke made hand signs, Sakura threw a bunch of senbon at her opponent.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu!" Sasuke yelled.

The kunoichi was too busy blocking the senbon to dodge the incoming fire ball and screamed in agony as she was heavily burnt. Sakura widened her eyes when she saw an especially quick shinobi dashing in a zig-zag pattern towards them. She could barely keep track of him and was sure that he was probably used to always winning with his speed. However, he would be proven wrong this time.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called and the raven haired teen turned around. His blazing sharingan immediately caught what Sakura was warning him about and he jumped in front of Sakura. His kunais clashed with the older shinobi's tanto swords, stopping him on the spot.

Sakura didn't waste another second, and was already on them with her arms outstretched in front. Her hands closed on their enemy's wrists and pumped a bit of chakra into them. He widened his eyes when he noticed that he couldn't break free from her hold and that Sasuke had moved to the side and was now aiming to slash at the shinobi's throat. Sasuke's kunai was about to cut his throat open when the man suddenly gathered chakra to his feet and pushed himself and Sakura backwards at full speed, successfully avoiding the Uchiha's attack.

Sakura released her hold, knowing that fighting in close combat with such a fast shinobi would only harm her. However, before she could jump back he caught her wrists and tried to put her into a lock. Sakura swiftly moved in the appropriate way to render his move useless and proceeded to throw him to the ground with full force. He slammed against the dry surface and Sakura threw a kunai at his neck. He moved just in time to avoid the weapon, but Sasuke caught up with them just in time and sent a hard kick into the enemy's back, further knocking the air out of his lungs. Before the man could recover, Sasuke was on him and trying to once again tear his jugular open with his kunai, but his attempt was stopped when Sakura intervened and pushed their opponent out of the way. She made a hand sign and put her hands on the man's head, immediately rendering him unconscious. Sakura noticed that Sasuke's kunai had made a cut on her upper arm, but it was nothing serious. The Uchiha glanced at her with slight annoyance and she sighed.

"Someone will have to be questioned." Sakura simply said. In reality, she had been trying to stop Sasuke from having his first kill. She knew that it wasn't rational, but she couldn't help but fear that if he did, he would go down the same dark road as he did in her past life.

For the first time since the battle had started, Sakura took a good look around and could tell that every opponent had been defeated. Sakura took a second glance around and saw that some Suna shinobi seemed to be injured from the assault. She quickly walked their way and assessed them. She put her hands on the most serious injuries to slow down the bleeding.

"They need medical attention soon. I could deal with most of the damage here but the cold won't help anyone, much less those with more serious injuries." Sakura said seriously and looked at a Suna jonin, who nodded at her and then turned around.

"Everyone who's able will help carry the injured!" He was about to turn to leave when he saw that Sasuke was picking up the last enemy they'd defeated, who was still out cold. "I'll take that one."

Sasuke allowed the higher ranked shinobi to pick the body up and then moved to help someone who was injured. The whole group moved as fast as they could towards the village and managed to get inside the gates within five minutes. Sakura followed the jonin - who was obviously the one in charge on their side - into a particularly large building and noticed that it was the hospital. The place was packed with patients and the arrival of so many injured looked like a curse on the staff's faces. It was clear that they were short on personnel and maybe even supplies. She had already heard the terrible state that Suna's health system was in. It was even rumored that only one medic could use chakra, and not all that well.

An older medic, who was probably the head of the hospital, came their way and asked them to follow him into a specific room that read 'critical status 3'. The wounded were laid on beds - even on the floor because of how few there were - and the considerably healthy shinobi left the room. Well, every one of them except for the rest of Sakura's team, who were expected to stay and wait for her so that they could go formally announce their arrival to whoever was in charge now.

"I'll have someone come take a look at them." The head medic said as he left.

Sakura wanted to yell and say that one more medic was not enough, but that was this hospital's reality. Sakura watched as the said medic walked inside almost immediately after the head left, so she walked up to him.

"I'm a medic too. Come quick." Sakura said and led him to the most critical patient.

They immediately started working together and Sakura quickly took charge of every procedure. The other medic seemed surprised at her knowledge, but was humble enough to allow a thirteen year old to lead him.

Sakura naturally lead him through every procedure that needed to be done on each patient. He didn't know how to use chakra to heal, so Sakura did most of the raw work of closing up wounds, while he cleaned and patched them up. When her hands left the last injured shinobi of their party, the medic she'd been working with held her wrist softly.

"Please, help me out with the critical civilians next door." Sakura could see the bags under his eyes and hear the pleading tone in his voice as he softly bowed. She could absolutely relate to him; she would feel like that too if Konoha's hospital worked as poorly as it did in Suna.

Sakura glanced questioningly at Shikamaru and Sasuke, who were leaning on a wall not far from her next to a Suna shinobi who was waiting to escort them to the main tower. Shikamaru sighed - clearly bothered by this - but nodded at her nonetheless and turned to say a couple words to Sasuke. He then left the room, closely followed by the shinobi that had been assigned to them.

Sakura assumed that he would head over to the tower on his own and let her give a hand to the medic. She smiled gratefully and quickly walked next to the Suna medic as he led her out of the room, closely followed by Sasuke. The room next door was packed with gravely injured and sick civilians. There was a strong stench in the air that signaled the lack of proper ventilation in the room. Some of the people were sitting on the floor and Sakura was honestly horrified by the poor conditions these people were being kept in. After taking a good look around, she decided that there were at least thirty patients that needed medical attention immediately.

She quickly took matters into her own hands and confidently walked up to the weakest person in the room. As she started healing and explaining things to the older doctor that had brought her there, she noticed how some of the other medics in the room started giving her curious glances. Soon, they began to approach her when they were faced with a particularly difficult task or when they had questions. Sakura patiently guided each of them, but inwardly flinched at how basic some of the questions were.

In her previous life, Sakura had always worked in a hospital that had been run by Tsunade - who had also been the Hokage - so the health system was as good as it could get. In this life, Konoha's hospital was average in comparison, but it was still one of the best in the shinobi nations. Suna's hospital, on the other hand, was at the bottom of the list. Not only did they have little resources to improve it - considering how much they had to invest in basic needs such as water and food - but they were also pretty isolated from other villages, which meant that most healthcare improvements took longer to reach their village and came at a higher price.

Tsunade had drilled a deep sense of duty and justice into Sakura, so she knew that she would stay and help out for as long as her body was able. Besides, this was a mission that aimed to establish an alliance between Suna and Konoha, so it only made sense that Sakura would give them a hand if she could.

Sakura moved around from patient to patient, helping the under-qualified medics to assess and treat each injury or sickness. Sakura didn't know how much time had actually passed, but she could guess that it had been at least a couple of hours because her body was numb and her legs were aching. Someone was calling her to take a look at another patient, when her path was suddenly blocked by someone - Sasuke.

"That's enough." he stated with a final tone that no one dared question. He turned around and looked at Sakura over his shoulder narrowing his eyes at her. "Let's go."

Sakura dumbly followed after him, not saying a word. On one hand she was incredibly tired from the long hours of intensive healing and, on the other, Sasuke's dominating nature had somehow managed to quell her usual stubbornness. Sakura felt her eyes grow heavy and her legs shake harder as she almost tripped. Sasuke stopped walking and turned to look at her with a frown. Only then did Sakura notice that he seemed quite upset and decided to ask.

"What?"

"What?" Sasuke replied with a serious tone. "Shouldn't it be obvious? You do know that we need to head out tomorrow at first light, right? Have you taken a look at yourself? Do you think that only five-hours of sleep will replenish all the energy that you've just lost?"

"I'm sorry." Sakura said after slightly widening her eyes in surprise. She hadn't even thought about that as she healed the people back at the hospital.

"How reckless can you be? You haven't even healed your own wound and can barely stand on your own." he motioned to the arm that had been cut by his kunai during battle.

"Sorry." she looked at the ground. After a couple seconds of silence she heard Sasuke sigh audibly.

"Come on." he said and started walking at a slower pace next to Sakura. He probably wanted to make sure she wouldn't land on her face if she tripped again.

They silently walked through the deserted streets, which were dimly lit by yellowish street lights. They soon entered the Hokage tower and came to a stop in front of a door on the second floor. Sakura assumed that it was the room that Suna had prepared for them.

"This is your room." Sasuke plainly said.

"What? We're sleeping in different rooms?" she raised her eyebrows in question.

"Yes. Why, were you expecting to share?" he said plainly, with complete honesty and no hint of mischief. Sakura felt a blush appear on her cheeks and she quickly shook her head.

"Oh, not at all. I just assumed that we would." she hastily said, hoping that he wouldn't figure out what she'd thought of his words. "Anyways, good night!"

"Heal yourself and get to sleep. _Don't stay up working_."

"Hai, hai." Sakura said and opened the door to her room.

As she crawled under the covers, Sakura felt a small smile form on her lips. Sasuke had never known anything about her last time around. But he now seemed to understand her as much as Naruto did, because he had immediately warned her not to give into her workaholic impulses. She didn't think much more about it, because the exhaustion soon took over her body and she drifted off to sleep.

Sakura woke up to a loud knocking sound and jolted awake. She was disoriented for a moment and had trouble figuring out where exactly she was due to a light headache. Another knock sounded against the door and a voice called from the other side.

"Sakura! We have a meeting with the council in ten minutes!"

It was Shikamaru. Only then did everything come back to her. As she scurried out of her bed, she sent some chakra to her forehead to ease the pain.

"I'll be out in five minutes!" Sakura yelled at the closed door and ran into the attached bathroom.

She took the quickest shower ever, trying to get as much sand out of her hair as possible. After showering, she dried herself in the blink of an eye and quickly moved into the bedroom again. She put on her clothes and then threw everything else inside her travelling pack. After taking one last glance around to make sure she wasn't leaving anything behind, Sakura opened the door to find Sasuke and Shikamaru waiting for her in the hallway.

"You did only take five minutes." The lazy genius grunted and started walking at a fast pace. "I must say I'm impressed; I never expected a girl to be up in such a short amount of time."

Sakura simply rolled her eyes and followed him as he turned a particular corner. Soon they were back on the first floor and found themselves entering a grand room that was furnished according to Suna's traditional style. Behind a dining table sat three old people, who turned around to see the Konoha nin enter the room.

"Ahh, welcome." An older woman stood up and motioned for them to take a seat across from them. "We've been expecting you."

"Please excuse us if we kept you waiting." Sakura said curtly.

"Oh no, not at all." She smiled and sat back down. "We have little time to talk, because you'll have to leave at the break of dawn."

"We want to thank Konoha for sending a team to guard our people after everything that happened." One of the men said.

"Our Lord Hokage is looking forward to establishing an alliance between our two villages, especially considering the most recent events that have occurred." Shikamaru looked at the three members of the council, who nodded in understanding.

"We understand his reasoning and we actually share his intentions. You must understand that the next Kazekage will have to state his approval of a friendly relationship between our villages." the woman smiled politely again when the three chunin nodded. She leaned down to get something from a drawer and then handed Shikamaru a scroll. "This is for your Kage."

The Nara teen received the item and slightly bowed in respect. He quickly put the scroll away in his travelling pack and looked up again. The man who had not yet spoken leaned forwards and looked Sakura in the eye.

"Word has reached me of how much you helped out at the hospital last night. I'd like to personally thank you for it."

"I am glad that I was able to help." Sakura smiled a bit.

"There's one more thing you should know before you leave." The woman said. "The shinobi that attacked the traveling group yesterday were from sound."

"How could that be?" Sakura's eyes widened. "Orochimaru was killed during the invasion."

"So I heard. We don't know if they were still acting upon orders, since the interrogation began only a couple of hours ago." She said.

"All right. Thank you so much for everything." Shikamaru bowed a bit.

Sakura's mind lost track of their voices as the meeting ended and she only mirrored whatever her teammates did. Had Orochimaru sent those shinobi? Was he still alive? Had her shishou's interference been for nothing? Had her _death_ been for nothing? Would Orochimaru attempt to find her and Sasuke now that they were out of the village? What about Shikamaru? How was she supposed to even fight Orochimaru with not only Sasuke, but the Nara genius watching her as well?

Sakura followed her team mates out of the tower and out of the village without muttering a word. They stepped into the still cold desert when the first rays of the sun appeared on the horizon. However, Sakura didn't have the mind to enjoy the scenery as her hands were balling into fists by her sides. The burden on her heart was once again heavier and she felt a knot form on her throat. The thought of losing Tsunade and having that snake still around sent a wave of fear through her.

She could only hope that it was all a misunderstanding. She could only hope that Orochimaru was dead indeed.

 **A/N: So, this chapter had the first bits of romance… which were – err – almost** _ **nonexistent,**_ **I know. The story will slowly include more of these, but don't expect anything rush.**

 **What do you think about this chapter? Did you like Sasuke's and Sakura's interactions? What did you think about her performance in Suna? What about Suna's shinobi?**

 **I love reading your comments and reviews! They honestly make writing much more enjoyable, because I love having input, ideas** _ **and**_ **constructive criticism alike. So, please let me know what you think!**

 **I want to thank my beta-reader MonochromeAce for her prompt revision of the chapter and her useful comments!**


	21. Nightmares and Friendships

**CHAPTER 21**

" _Sakura!" a voice echoed in the complete darkness that surrounded her._

 _She squinted her eyes hoping to get a better look around, but it was in vain. The whole place was pitch black. She concentrated on the echo of the voice and noticed that source was to her right. As she walked on the void towards it, she felt a sense of dread build in her chest. Her jaw clenched, her breathing became faster, her shoulders became tense, and there was a suddenly a suffocating feeling of anxiety clouding her judgment._

" _Sakura!" the voice called again and Sakura decided that it belonged to a female._

 _Her walking became a nervous jogging as she tried not to trip on the surprisingly uneven void beneath her feet. Her head turned from side to side as she desperately tried to see who was calling for her. Her feet dragged her along the pitch black surroundings for what seemed like an eternity. However, the long amount of time didn't help ease the drumming heartbeat that deafened her ears to the point where she could barely hear her own labored breathing. Suddenly, everything was eerie quiet and the silence became complete._

 _"Sakura!"_

 _Her body froze in shock, because she would always be able to recognize that voice. Her legs carried her at top speed towards the voice as she desperately searched for the owner of the voice. Out of nowhere, a kneeling silhouette appeared to her right and she dashed towards it. She was barely recognizable; her blonde hair was now white, her young skin was now covered in wrinkles, the seal was missing on her forehead and her once healthy body was aged and weak. The brown eyed woman looked up at Sakura as she approached and whispered as she tried to stand up._

 _"Sakura..." Tsunade stumbled forward and the pinkette caught her before she could fall. She didn't even seem to register her own fall, because her eyes stayed trained on the ground. Her pupils were contracted as she slightly shook and spoke in a daze "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, Sakura..."_

 _"I'm here." She said and tried to keep her composure at the sight of her shishou as a dying elderly woman. "I'm here."_

 _"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, Sakura..." Tsunade kept chanting without looking up at her._

 _"What is it?" She asked, but she wasn't noticed and soon her felt anxiety grow even further. Sakura shook the woman in her arms for a bit and had to shout to get her attention. "What?!"_

 _Tsunade stopped chanting and froze completely. She slowly, slowly, raised her head to look at the girl next to her. Sakura almost cried in horror at the look of fear in her shishou's eyes. Never had Sakura seen her as terrified as now. Her lips were a tight line that was so strained that her face had contorted in an unnatural way. Her beautiful kind eyes were bloodshot and wide, and Sakura could tell that she was barely able to focus. Her eyebrows were furrowed upwards in fear and anticipation._

" _Sakura. Sakura." Tsunade said and her scrawny fingers tightened around Sakura's forearms painfully. "Watch out. Don't let your guard down. Don't let him get to you, to the both of you."_

" _Who's coming for us? Me and who else?" Sakura's voice trembled._

" _He's coming, Sakura. Do something before it's too late. Be safe. Watch out. Get somewhere-" her ranting suddenly stopped and she froze once again. Her whole body started shaking in desperation and she turned her head to look over her shoulder. "He's here. It's too late. It's too late. It's too late."_

 _Sakura felt her own body tremble in fear at the chilling murderous aura she felt fill the whole void. She didn't want to – she was too scared – but she found the will to look towards where her shishou was staring with wide eyes. Behind them, in the pitch black sky, there were two eyes. They must've been the size of mountains because Sakura could almost not see the end of them. It wasn't just that which terrified Sakura. The eyes were a familiar bright yellow and its pupils were slit vertically. And they were looking down towards the void ground. Sakura's eyes followed them and saw another figure standing a good hundred meters in front of her. She immediately recognized him despite having his back turned to her._

" _Sasuke!" she called and stood up, leaving her trembling mentor in a sitting position. The raven haired teen didn't seem to hear her, because he didn't move. She raised her voice until she was yelling as hard as her vocal chords allowed her. "Sasuke!"_

 _Her feet moved on her own and she dashed towards him. She should've been grateful that the huge yellow eyes had not once looked her way. But she wasn't. The way they were focused so intently on her oblivious friend was horrifying her even further. He didn't seem to notice anything as she neared him and she was about to shout once more, but stopped._

 _Something seemed_ off _with this Sasuke. He somehow seemed… taller. Suddenly, the huge yellow eyes in the sky jerked towards where Sakura stood and its pupils contracted to focus on her form. Her feet stopped running and a shiver ran down her spine at the nauseating feeling it gave her, something she hadn't felt since her genin days. Her eyes noticed movement and looked down at Sasuke. He was turning around slowly and his face slowly came into view. Her eyes went wide when she saw that this was not the Sasuke that she'd become friends with. He was not the Sasuke who cared about her, about Konoha or peace. He was not the one she'd first fallen in love with. This man's face was much older – probably around eighteen – and his crimson eyes contained a six-pointed star. His face was twisted into a cruel smirk and his eyes shone with evil._

 _Sakura took a step back and felt her hands tremble next to her. Sasuke mocked her reaction with a snort and then fully turned his body to face her, his movements that of a predator. Sakura shook her head in denial as he towered above her thirteen year old height. Her shaking abruptly stopped as he turned his back to her and started walking away. Her eyes widened and she took a step forward._

" _Sasuke! Hey! Stop!" she yelled after him. Her feet quickly moved and she ran towards him, but somehow her body was not moving forward but only further away from him. Tears were already running down her cheeks when she realized that he was almost out of sight. "Sasuke! No! Sasuke!"_

 **-x-**

Sakura was shaken awake almost harshly by an arm on her shoulder and she jolted to a sitting position. Her eyes were wide in fear, her heartbeat was insane and her labored breathing was rasping painfully on her throat. She looked around frantically, trying to make sense of her surroundings and her eyes soon came upon Sasuke. She widened her eyes at the sight of him and stumbled backwards and away from him. Her hand stretched forward to keep him at a safe distance and she lowered her body defensively.

"Sakura?" he asked with a frown.

"You-" she tried to speak but stopped in order to collect her thoughts first. She took a deep breath in and looked around for a moment. It was night and she was surrounded by a cold steppe. There was a second figure not much further from them, who was sitting up and watching her intently; Shikamaru, who seemed to have been on watch duty. _Right. Time-travelling. Promotion to Chunin. Mission to Suna._ Sakura finally managed to find it in herself to look at Sasuke again and mentally slapped herself for not noticing his young face earlier. "I had a nightmare."

"I can tell." He said and sat down on the floor right on the spot where she'd been sleeping. Sakura slowly crept closer and sat down in front of him.

Shikamaru stood up and walked towards the both of them as he yawned. He stopped to Sakura's right and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, thanks." She nodded.

"Well, it's almost dawn anyways." Shikamaru said as his head gestured towards the mountains, behind which the starry black sky was turning into a shade of purple. "I'll go get something for breakfast."

Shikamaru walked away slowly and Sakura inwardly thanked him for making up some excuse to allow her some time to talk with Sasuke. She looked at the Uchiha in front of her and noticed that he was observing her intently.

"What was that all about?"

"Just a nightmare. Nothing to worry about." She shrugged her shoulder in an attempt to make her point across.

"You called out to me." He said bluntly.

"In my sleep?" she asked as she bit her lip and Sasuke nodded. "I… dreamt about _him_."

"Orochimaru?"

"Yeah. He was back and had gotten you." She gulped and looked down at her hands. "I… I've been a bit on edge ever since we left Konoha. After hearing that we'd been ambushed by Oto shinobi I just…"

"Sakura. He's dead."

"I know." Sakura whispered. She knew he was _supposed_ to be, but he was goddamn _Orochimaru_. If there was anyone that could find a way to rise from the dead, it was him. She looked up at Sasuke again and they locked eyes for a moment. She felt her heart beat faster once again, but this time it was for a completely different reason. The deep shade of gray of Sasuke's eyes was captivating and she wondered how many times she'd been able to hold his gaze for longer than a couple of seconds. Deciding not to make things awkward, she spoke again. "I'm just a bit shaken because of what happened back in Konoha. But you're right; we'll be fine." _Hopefully._

"I've been meaning to ask." Sasuke said slowly after a moment, as if he'd been struggling with the subject. "Did you know Tsunade?"

Sakura felt her heart skip a beat at his question; of course he was bound to ask her that question after seeing her outburst towards Naruto. Of course he would notice that her reaction had been out of place for someone she didn't know. He was too smart to ignore or forget it. Sakura wondered for a moment if Sasuke was ready to know about her time-travelling mission. He did seem more emotionally stable than before, but she wasn't sure he was mature enough to handle everything that had happened in the other timeline or the truth about the massacre. Should she take the chance and tell him anyways? Would he lose his mind? Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and suddenly felt another presence behind the trees. It was Shikamaru, who was eavesdropping on their conversation. She had the urge to roll her eyes and sigh in exasperation. _Obviously._

"I… kinda did." Sakura finally said and her index started drawing circles on the sand. "I met her before the exam started. You do know that she was _the_ most renowned medic nin ever?"

"Hn."

"Tsunade came to the hospital to find out who the rumored genius medic from Konoha was. She asked me to show her some of my abilities at healing with chakra. She was impressed. She said she wanted to train me, to teach me, after the chunin exams. I was so happy! I had always admired her so much! I had always read about her in the medicine books that I bought and often heard her name in the hospital. I was going to be trained by a legend! Not just that… she… was kind." Sakura said the last words in a whisper, because she feared her voice would break.

Sasuke kept quiet as he looked into her eyes, and she felt almost intimidated by his vigilant eyes. He was cautiously trying to assess her feelings in regards to his question, but was patiently waiting for her to reveal whatever she felt like doing. Sakura hated to lie to Sasuke, but she needed to make her attachment to the woman believable. After another pause, she took a deep breath in and continued.

"We spent some time together that day. She talked to me a bit about the role of the medic nin on the battlefield and inside the village walls. She was incredibly strong, a sharp and wise mind. Even though our profession is dominated by men, she moved around with such confidence and pride. I _truly_ admired her. When she died I… was so disappointed. And sad. I… I guess you have your answer now."

"Aa…" Sasuke said in a soft voice.

"Sorry for the pouring it all on you." She whispered.

"I asked." He looked at the ground and intertwined his fingers. "So, there was something else going on the day that you vented out on Naruto."

Sakura nodded quietly, and the silence between them stretched for another moment as both chunin looked down at their feet, deep in thought. Sakura wasn't sure how she would explain her outburst at Naruto – if she ever did – but was certain that for now she couldn't answer that question. On the other side, Sasuke had only confirmed his notion that Sakura had been under a _lot_ of pressure that day. It only made sense, because he knew that she was usually a composed and responsible person. He was actually quite curious about whatever she was hiding, because that day the look in her eyes had been a bit too much like his own eyes were when he thought about his clan's death. However, Sasuke knew better than to ask something that could've been personal when Shikamaru was around. As if on cue to his thoughts, the Nara teen _conveniently_ stepped in from behind the tree where he'd been hiding and broke the silence.

"I got a rabbit." He announced.

"Took you long enough." Sasuke said and made a fire jutsu to light up the remaining firewood that they hadn't used up last night.

The three of them had a quick breakfast and headed out as soon as they were done picking their stuff up. As they walked, Sakura could only wonder what it was that she'd said in her sleep. She had been _itching_ to ask Sasuke, just to make sure that she hadn't revealed anything important, but asking would probably make it seem like she wanted to hide something. And that was the last thing she wanted right now. Not only would it seem suspicious, but it could also undermine the confidence that she'd slowly built with Sasuke. She would just have to have a little faith in life and simply let it slide for now.

 **-x-**

Talking to Sasuke had lifted some of the burden she'd been feeling crushed by for the past week. Of course, she hadn't told him _everything,_ but the fact that he had listened to some of her troubles had made her feel warm inside. Damn, he had even _asked_ about her out of his own accord. Sakura guessed that this fact was what had made the next nights better for her. She had been a bit on edge and slightly worried, but she hadn't suffered from nightmares anymore.

The worries that had been occupying her mind had been mostly about getting ambushed by Oto shinobi on their way home. However, they thankfully encountered no other troubles on their way back and soon were walking amongst the lush green forests that surrounded Konoha. As they neared the village, Sakura started feeling anxious once again, because once they were inside and had informed the Hokage of their arrival, she would have to talk to Naruto. She wanted to clear things up with him as soon as possible, but at the same time was afraid of what his reaction would be. When the village gates came into view, her hands were sweaty and her heart was beating faster than usual.

The three newly promoted chunin walked down the dark streets of Konoha and by the time they had reached the Hokage tower, the sun had just set. They walked up the stairs and soon were knocking on their leader's office door. A mumbled 'come in' echoed from the inside and they stepped in quickly.

"Oh, you're back." He said and turned to face them fully. "Did you run into any trouble?"

"We were ambushed by a group of shinobi on our last day of travel towards Suna." Shikamaru answered. "Thankfully, no one from our side died and we successfully apprehended an enemy. He was a shinobi from Oto, but we had to leave before his interrogation finished so we don't know much more about it."

"Oh?" Hiruzen raised his eyebrows. "And what about your mission?"

"It was a success, I believe." Shikamaru answered and took a step towards the office table to hand him the scroll. "They're willing to start an alliance between the two villages, but mentioned that the new Kazekage would have to approve as well."

"Well, of course he would have to." The Hokage nodded. "If there's nothing else urgent that I should know of, I'd like the three of you to write a report on the mission and bring it over to me in three days."

"Hai!" the three chunin bowed slightly and left the room. They walked down the stairs and out of the tower.

"Nice work. Bye." Shikamaru waved lazily and turned to walk down the street with a wave.

"I have to go too." Sasuke said from behind her and Sakura felt her stomach tighten. She had been expecting Sasuke to be there when she faced Naruto, but she knew that he was probably tired and needing a shower as much as she was. It was also a matter between her and the blonde, so it would've actually been out of place for Sasuke to go. She felt his gaze linger on her for a moment and turned around to look at him. "Good luck."

"Thanks." She smiled softly and nodded gratefully.

When she was alone she started walking towards Naruto's place. The journey to his doorstep felt unusually short, since she'd been trying to run different scenarios in her head and time had not been enough. As she looked at his door, she closed her eyes and felt her surroundings; his chakra signature was clear inside the apartment. Sakura felt her hands tremble in front of her and took a deep breath in before knocking on the door.

"Coming!" she heard Naruto's voice from the inside and then there was a commotion which sounded like he was kicking stuff out of his way as he neared the door. For some reason, the picture of his characteristic messiness only made her feel more miserable. The footsteps stopped on the other side of the door and the door was opened hastily. Naruto's beaming face fell as soon as he saw Sakura in front of him. He frowned and looked at the ground between them intently. His voice was unusually low and it had a hint of sorrow in it. "Hey."

"Hey." Sakura said softly and intertwined her fingers to keep the shaking under control. "Can I… talk to you for a moment?"

"I guess..." He said and entered the apartment without a second glance at her, leaving the door open behind him.

Sakura followed him into his tiny living room as she sidestepped the numerous things that were lying on the floor. Naruto sat down on the floor and Sakura was suddenly clueless about where she should sit. She didn't want to annoy him or break their friendship – if it still existed – even further. Finally, she decided to sit against the wall a meter away from him. Sakura turned her head to look at her blonde friend and felt her heart ache when she noticed that he was pointedly looking away from her. Her lower lip trembled and she had to fight the tears that were threatening to escape.

"Naruto. I'm _so sorry._ " she said intently and waited for a reaction. However, Naruto didn't move one bit and kept his eyes trained on the wall on the other side of the room. Sakura took a deep breath. "I fucked up. There was so much going on with me and I just… let it all out on you. I know that I shouldn't have. The memory of how badly I treated you has been haunting me for the past several days."

"Hm." Naruto hummed looking at the floor in front of him.

"Naruto, _please_ forgive me." Sakura said and leaned closer to him, as if the closeness of their bodies would somehow propagate her feelings into him. "You mean so much to me. You're my best friend, ever. I know that I mean a lot to you too, so _please_ accept my apologies."

"You do." Naruto said and then sharply turned his head to look at the pinkette. There was a hurt and slightly angry look on his face. "You _do_ mean a lot to me. And that's _exactly_ why I would never dream of treating you like that."

"I… I promise that I'll never do that again." Sakura felt tears gather in her eyes. "I was out of my mind; I didn't even realize what I was saying until you left!"

"I can't think of anything that would make me treat you like that." Naruto said seriously. "So, please _enlighten_ me, Sakura. _What_ was on your mind that you had to treat me like that?"

"I…" Sakura gulped and whispered. "I can't tell you."

Naruto gaped at her incredulously and then snorted sarcastically. "How do you expect me to understand when you're not even _explaining._ "

"I…" She saw the memories of Tsunade rush through her and her funeral. She felt the pressure of not knowing what would happen in the future _she_ had to protect, the future that was much more terrible than anyone could imagine. The pressure that she'd been under all this time came back all at once and not being able to tell anyone about it only made it worse. Sakura pressed her lips together as she looked at the ground under her feet and a tear rolled down her cheek, her will finally breaking down. "I can't tell you yet. I _wish_ I could, Naruto. But I _can't._ Not yet at least."

"Why?" he said, his harsh tone dropping to a slightly more worried one.

Sakura simply looked up at his eyes with a creased forehead, eyes haunted by her issues and glazed by tears. She was biting hard on her lip as she tried to keep her crying at bay. Naruto also noticed purple bags under her eyes and figured that she probably hadn't gotten enough sleep for a while. She didn't answer anything else but instead of making the blonde angrier, it only made him worry further.

Naruto's gaze softened as he looked at her. Her shoulders were shaking and she was trying hard not to cry. But his reaction had nothing to do with her crying. He _knew_ Sakura. He could tell what she was feeling just by looking into her eyes. He knew that she was telling the truth and that she deeply regretted treating him like that. He knew that there was something important on her mind and that she honestly couldn't tell him. One of his hands rose from the floor and held her forearm softly.

"Are you safe?" he frowned. " _Don't_ lie to me."

"I…" Sakura wondered for a moment how she could answer that question without lying. She was definitely not safe with the chance that Orochimaru might still live. Not safe with the pressure of her secret – she knew that she could be judged as a traitor by the council. She was not safe from Pein or Obito. But she was going to be; she would make sure of it. "I will be."

Naruto's frown expanded, concern settling deeper into his blue eyes. He watched her for another moment and then his hand left her arm. Sakura felt her heart skip a beat and she raised her own hand to hold his arm before it finished its course. Both stopped moving for a moment and the room seemed awfully quiet once more.

"Are we…" Sakura asked tentatively. "…all right?"

Naruto arms jerked forward, forcing Sakura to let go of him, and slammed his hands on the floor in front of him as his whole body tensed. His head hung low and his bangs were covering his face, but Sakura could imagine what kind of face he was making. Another couple seconds passed in silence until he finally spoke.

" _Damn it,_ Sakura." He growled with his head still hung low. "I was soangry at you. Scratch that. I was so _hurt_ by you." He said and another pause stretched on for a couple seconds. "Did you know that I only found your letter a couple days ago? You should've known that I wouldn't see it in this mess."

"Sorry." Sakura bit her lip as she inwardly cursed her inattentiveness. She furtively leaned forward to try and get a glimpse of his face, but failed.

"Before you came along, only Iruka-sensei had been tolerant with me and was the only person that I ever _talked_ to. You're the only one that has ever truly valued me for who I am." Naruto said. "Can you imagine how I felt when you trashed me around like that and then didn't show up for a _week_?"

"I'm so sorry." She said once again. She felt like she needed to find different words to apologize, because it was getting repetitive.

"I really wanted to close the door on your face when you came by. But I couldn't. I can't just _do_ that." Naruto sighed.

Sakura's body moved on her own and her arms circled around Naruto. He didn't move to hug her back, but he also didn't move away and that was more than enough for her. Sakura's hold on Naruto was almost crushing, but he didn't seem to mind. After a while, Naruto took a deep breath to calm down and spoke with a clear voice.

"Don't _ever_ do that to me again."

Sakura knew that putting the fight behind them would take a bit of time, but she would wait as long as she had to. She had never felt so lucky to have a friend like him.

 **-x-**

After another day, her worries about Naruto dissipated, but her mind was focused on a complete different matter; Orochimaru. Sakura knew that it was highly impossible – because it would've been completely weird for no one to notice – but she feared that he might just be alive. After all, he was the sneakiest person around... maybe only second to Obito. It would explain why Suna had been attacked by Oto shinobi too. However, it could also be only rogue or wandering nin that had belonged to Oto before Orochimaru died. It was definitely the best scenario she could think of, because Orochimaru being alive would certainly make things _more_ difficult for her. She would not only have to worry about Obito and Pein, but also about that damn snake who was keeping an eye on both Sasuke and herself.

Sakura wanted desperately to ask the Hokage about the snake sanin, but she knew it would seem suspicious for her to worry. She was supposed to know nothing about the man and she shouldn't even _consider_ the possibility of him being alive. So, in the end, she discarded that option and decided to finish her unfinished work.

After thoroughly writing down everything that she experienced during the mission to Suna, she headed towards the Hokage tower. She knocked on the Hokage's door and entered the office after hearing a muffled 'come in'. She found Sarutobi surrounded by a huge amount of paper work and with purple bags under his eyes. There were at least five ANBU sitting around in the room, helping him with the unusually large workload.

"Er… sir." Sakura said as she eyed the piles and piles of sheets wearily. There was at least half a month's worth of work in there. Memories of her own time helping Tsunade with paperwork came to mind and she cringed. "I've finished my report on the mission to Suna."

"Good." Hiruzen said and motioned for her to walk closer and hand him her work. He moved some stuff around and finally found a folder. He hastily opened it to put Sakura's work inside and then turned to look at her once more.

"Do you need any help, sir?" Sakura offered to show him some sympathy, because she knew that he would refuse; the Kage only allowed his most trusted people to give him a hand with paperwork.

"I think we'll manage over here." He said but then stopped for a moment and eyed the folder in his hands. "Actually, since you're the last one to deliver your report could you go store it away in the report archives?"

Sakura felt her heart skip a beat at that, but kept an impeccable poker face. "No problem sir."

She received the folder and a written permission slip before leaving the office. Her thoughts were running wild. This was a once in a lifetime chance. In her past life, Sakura had only managed to get into the report archives _after_ she became Tsunade's apprentice. Before, she hadn't even _heard_ of it. Even though she'd had practically unlimited access to it, she came to know that for most shinobi the chances to get in were few. In this timeline, she probably wouldn't get another chance like this one in months or maybe even years if she was unlucky.

Sakura made her decision as she walked down the stairs to the basement of the tower. She would not have another chance to find out what had happened with Orochimaru. Apart from that, she knew every sealing jutsu inside the archives _and_ she knew exactly the order in which reports were stored. She had a good shot at this, but could under no circumstance be found out. She finally arrived at the end of the hallway where two ANBU guards were standing in front of the iron door.

"I've been sent by Hokage-sama to deliver a mission report." She said curtly and handed over the written permission slip as one of the guards walked up to her.

"Name?"

"Haruno Sakura." She stated.

"All right, please put your thumb in here." He said signaling to a hole of a small artifact behind him.

Sakura did as he asked her to and soon felt a small jab on her thumb. She knew that a sample of her blood would be taken to make sure that no one was impersonating her. She pulled her hand back and wiped the remaining blood on her shirt. The ANBU turned to look back at her and gestured to the door, which opened with a _clank_.

"Leave the report in the box according to the nature of the mission and then come out immediately."

Sakura thanked them and walked inside with a relaxed stride, successfully hiding her inner anxiety. Her right hand healed the puncture on her thumb with one touch; the last thing she needed was to leave blood where she touched. When the door closed behind her, Sakura knew that she had only a few seconds to do what she needed. She dashed across the room until she was in front of the box that read 'escorting missions' and dropped the folder inside. She took a couple more steps as her eyes landed on the box that was labeled 'village security'. Her hands went through the folders and soon found one that read 'Otogakure' and was dated two days ago. That meant that Konoha had also had at least one incident with shinobi from Sound.

Sakura hastily opened the folder and her eyes went through the intel in a matter of seconds. She found out that the Oto shinobi that had been roaming around had been working on their own, mostly in an attempt at revenge against Konoha. The report also stated that it was the same profile as the events in the past couple of weeks. Sakura sighed in relief at the notion that Orochimaru nor any other mastermind was responsible for those attacks. Sakura closed the folder and put it down again in the blink of an eye.

Her feet moved in absolute silence once again and she was on the other side of the room in a second. It was where the files had already been arranged and stored according to date and subject. In one second, she'd opened the drawer with the date of the invasion and was quickly searching for the one she needed. Sakura almost cried when she found the report and took the folder that read 'Orochimaru' out. As she had expected, the folder was sealed because of its importance and she quickly made the appropriate hand signs to open it.

Tsunade's death was still a mystery to Sakura and she was _dying_ to find out if Orochimaru had been the one to kill her. However, she knew that she didn't have any time to lose and her top priority was to make sure that the snake was dead. Her eyes went to the bottom of the report about the invasion and found that he had died by Sarutobi's hand, but she didn't read any further. She quickly turned the pages to the tab that read 'Medical Report', which was the only thing she needed.

Sakura smiled in success at the knowledge that there _was_ a medical report, because that meant that he had been dead for at least a whole day. However, when she opened the file her breath got caught in her throat and her mind froze. She stood there for at least a couple seconds, gaping at the folder in her hands and trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

She heard a faint noise on the steel door and, in the blink of an eye, had left the report as she had found it – sealed and closed – and was walking back to the door. When the door opened, the ANBU guard looked at her with a tilted head – Sakura assumed that he had a questioning look under his mask – and she smiled sheepishly.

"It's my first time in here; I started looking in the opposite side. Sorry."

"It's all right. It was only a couple seconds longer than usual." The ANBU said as she walked out of the room and into the hallway.

As Sakura's feet carried her to the first floor and out of the tower, she felt her heartbeat finally go wild. Her lungs constricted in her chest and her hands tightened at her sides in dread. Even though Orochimaru was most likely dead – the medical report proved it – there was something else that was entirely out of place.

The page that summarized _all_ of the medical intel about Orochimaru's corpse had been torn away. Only Konoha shinobi were supposed to have access to that room. Apart from that, a secret jutsu was required to open that specific file. These facts only left two possibilities in this case. The first one was that someone had actually broken inside the report archives without anyone noticing _and_ had managed to find a way to open the file. The second was that someone from _inside_ the village – who also had knowledge of the sealing jutsu – was plotting something.

Sakura didn't like either of the choices.

 **A/N: Ok, I have to confess that I almost wanted to change this into a NaruSaku after this chapter. I don't know how you felt it, but writing it was so intense to me.**

 **Nah. Not really. I love SasuSaku too much – always have. Though I must say that if I'd started watching the show** _ **now**_ **I probably wouldn't (I actually just realized that I first watched Naruto like 13 years ago… daaaamn).**

 **I love Sakura and Naruto's friendship – I always thought that Kishi didn't give it the screentime it needed. So I wanted to put some of it into this fanfiction as well.**

 **I know some of you might be thinking… where is the Sasusaku? Well… it's coming. Slowly. But it's coming. Like winter in GOT. It might take a good eight or ten chapters for it to get to become really straightforward. But please bear with me.**

 **What do you think about the last part? Do you have any ideas on what's going on? Any clues?**

 **I'd love to hear any hunches that you get on this!**


	22. First Step

**CHAPTER 22**

Tsunade's death soon became more bearable to Sakura. After almost two months of virtually constant longing and grief, she managed to accept her shishou's lethal fate. Sakura would've probably taken much more time to accept it – especially since she'd been like a second mother to her – if it weren't for the fact that her shishou had died during the Juubi attack, which had brought about her grief not long after meeting Tsunade in this timeline. After almost a year of going around the burnt down shinobi world and over a year of living in this new timeline, she had honestly never expected to meet Tsunade again. After all, Sakura had planned to do anything in her power to keep Sarutobi alive and that would've meant that Tsunade would've never come to the village.

However, as her mind was cleared of memories about Tsunade, it was filled with worries. When she'd first found there were pages torn from the medical report about Orochimaru's death, she had been too shocked to actually consider who might've been after that particular information. As time went by, the possibilities became clear to her.

First of all, there was Obito. Obito had the ability to freely create time-space distortions and practically teleport anywhere in the world, so he would have no trouble getting into the report archives. Apart from that, he was the _real_ leader of Akatsuki, which meant that he had a vast amount of resourceful shinobi under his command. He would easily be able to get info on any sealing jutsus used to keep the village secrets safe. Obito also had reasons to steal the medical report; Orochimaru's secrets would help him get stronger and Konoha would be weaker if they didn't discover them.

Another possibility was Kabuto. He was sneaky and an incredibly strong shinobi, not to mention a proficient medic nin. He would easily be able to impersonate anyone, get a fake permission form from the Hokage and manipulate his blood to recreate anyone's DNA. He also had been part of the village at one point, so he could've easily known any of the sealing jutsus. Kabuto had the most reasons to go out of his way to get Orochimaru's medical report; he had already absorbed him in her past life and was as twisted if not more. However, there was something nagging in Sakura's head. Why hadn't he attended the chunin exams? Had he decided to stay in Otogakure while Orochimaru came to Konoha? _What_ exactly had caused this change? She had no idea.

Another option was Danzo. Of course, he always wanted the best for the village – in his own twisted way – and would do anything to secure its future. He had even created an army of mindless soldiers – root – and had transplanted numerous sharingan into his arm. _After_ wiping out the entire Uchiha clan. Danzo was probably more knowledgeable about the village's secret than any other Hokage, since he had been involved in almost all questionable events and immoral actions. It would be easy for him to know the jutsu to open up that folder. Apart from that, he would have no trouble at all when it came to entering the archives, since he was a part of the council. The question was, would he really go that far? Would he try to get ahold of Orochimaru's twisted secrets in order to get stronger? Sakura was leaning towards a yes.

Maybe another village was trying to get ahold of Konoha's intel, but it was highly improbable. First of all, they would know better than trying to steal from them _before_ weakening the village to the best of their ability. If they really wanted to hurt Konoha and get away with it, they would have to make sure Konoha wouldn't be able to strike back. Unless they managed to do it in a way that raised no suspicions towards them. But it was still a stretch and Sakura was familiar enough with shinobi village policies to assume they wouldn't try anything in this scenario.

Sakura had to say though, that despite her worries, her life had been somewhat peaceful after getting back from Suna. The village was putting most of its resources into reconstruction, which had every genin and chunin working inside the village, while only jonin were being sent out on missions since they would get paid better with the least amount of people leaving. Sakura had at first agreed wholeheartedly to this plan, but carrying timber and stones all morning actually got tedious after two months. One of the upsides to being a shinobi was that work _rarely_ got boring, since missions were always different and she was always training and improving her skills.

On the other hand, spending so much time with her team on reconstruction work had helped her set things right with Naruto. At first he had been slightly distant to her, but she had accepted that he wouldn't simply forget everything overnight. She had patiently waited for him to open up and Sasuke had not said a word about the distance between them. Not that she expected him to, because he respected the limits of privacy, sometimes even overdoing it by not asking anything at all when he was not close to the person in question. Thankfully he was now close enough to both Sakura and Naruto and, even though he hadn't asked about the issues _between_ them, he had asked how they were doing in general.

It had also caught Sakura's attention that Naruto had somehow gotten closer to Hinata, probably while she'd been away in Suna. Twice in a month and a half she had caught a glimpse of them at Ichiraku's and had actually seen Naruto _blush_ in the Hyuga's presence. She had almost squealed in glee at the sight of her flustered friend. Sakura had always thought that Hinata would be a great match for Naruto, especially since she had a complementary personality to his. She wondered if her hint about Hinata while they were still in the academy had pushed Naruto to talk to her. She was almost sure that Hinata wouldn't have simply talked to him out of the blue. Maybe she would've done so if she saw Naruto sad or something… which she actually might have, now that she thought about it. No matter what the case was, she was truly happy for him.

Luckily, Naruto had not felt left out because of his teammates' promotion. In fact, he had actually congratulated them and said that they'd deserved to become chunin because of how much tactical thought they possessed. He had told them that they better look out for him becoming a chunin, because he would kick their ass and leave all the judges dumbfounded.

Despite Naruto still being a genin, they would meet every day for an hour or two for sparring, usually at noon before their own individual training. Sakura would train everyday with Anko, while Sasuke trained with Kakashi and Naruto with Jiraiya. Afterwards she would go to the hospital and work for a couple of hours and then head home. The time of the day she enjoyed the most was the time training with her team. It was not only refreshing to be able to move and work her body, but it was also when they strengthened their team bond. She absolutely agreed with Naruto's theory that sparring or fighting was a way of communication.

After the friction between her and Naruto had completely disappeared, Team 7 had actually improved their team dynamic even further. Sakura was certain that they had never worked this well together, not even during the fourth shinobi war. They had developed what she had named 'team intuition' and they were able to tell what the other members were going to do with only a single look. Their moves had gone from messy to coordinated in just a couple of months.

Most of the time, the sparring would occur with their teachers present; Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Anko would sit back and 'watch' them. In reality, they mostly talked to each other and Sakura was _sure_ that it was about lascivious subjects. She could see Jiraiya talking while pointing out things, as if he were giving advice to Anko and Kakashi who intently listened to him. Sakura wanted to be a part of the conversation _so badly_. However, it would be weird for a thirteen year old girl to be interested in sexuality, especially considering that most girls her age could barely talk about kissing. In the end, she had to simply accept that the only sexuality her nineteen year old mind would be fed for a while were the Icha-Icha books that she kept hidden at home.

One day, she noticed that Jiraiya seemed much less talkative than usual. His demeanor seemed introspective, but she could tell by the barely noticeable tension in his forearms that there was something going on. Now, Sakura hadn't been close to Jiraiya at all, but she remembered every meeting he'd had with Tsunade and he had looked like this only once; when he was about to leave to find Pein. Maybe most people would not pry into a sannin's business, but Sakura was certain that something big was going on so she could not simply ignore the warning signs.

When that day's training came to an end, Sakura dusted off her black leggings and her red tank top as she grinned at her teammates. She had once again won against them in sparring; 2-1 in each of her encounters against Naruto and Sasuke. Of course, she didn't use her full force and sometimes allowed them to win – she wouldn't want to seem too strong. However, it was important that she slowly showed more strength so that someday it wouldn't seem weird for her to have high jonin level abilities. Thankfully, both her teammates were gradually getting stronger too, which meant that she had a bigger challenge while sparring with them. Their individual training with Kakashi and Jiraiya was truly paying off.

"Aaahhhhh… this is so embarrassing." Naruto wailed and passed his hand through his hair. "I can't believe that Sakura's continuously beating the both of us."

"Hn." Sasuke agreed with a frown, definitely not liking that Sakura had won against him. His eyes then turned to look at the blonde. "I still beat you."

"Who cares!" Naruto snorted. "It's not that bad since you're a guy."

"So, it's embarrassing to be beaten by a kunoichi because women are supposed to be weaker?" Sakura asked and forced a smile that was actually kind of creepy.

"Oh, no no." Naruto waved his hands in front of him and nervously smiled. "That's not what I meant. I mean that… err…"

Sasuke straightened up and pressed his lips together when he figured that Sakura could assume he thought the same as Naruto. Sakura snickered at the sight of Naruto trying to convince her that his comment was not sexist. His rant stopped when he saw that Sakura was now openly laughing at him. Sasuke's reaction had been hilarious too.

"Ah-ah! Heh… Give me a sec." Sakura took a couple seconds to stop laughing altogether. "Daaaamn. You should've seen your faces!"

"You mean you're not angry?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"I'm not. Of course men usually have more physical raw strength than women do. Don't think that I'll feel insulted by the fact that you pointed that out." Sakura smirked and then her face became more serious. "But don't forget that being a shinobi is much more than just brute force. Speed, strategy, chakra control, jutsus, bloodline limits, and creativity also play a role. Don't underestimate women or you might get killed out there."

"She's right." Sasuke said with a plain face.

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Kiddo." Jiraiya approached them and put his hand on Naruto's head as he playfully wiggled his eyebrows. "Women also have other abilities which can be quite deceitful."

"Ahh! Pervy-sage, don't mention that!" Naruto complained but there was a mischievous look in his eye and he giggled a bit, a light blush on his cheeks. Sakura smirked too; she had purposefully left that one out, knowing that could be a quite useful trait especially in undercover or intel gathering missions. Sasuke looked at Naruto with a bored face that was screaming 'I would never fall for any of that'.

"Anyways. I have to go now." Jiraiya said and his face became more serious, but he was skillfully covering it up. Sakura raised an eyebrow and wondered if anyone else had caught that. "We won't be able to go out for ramen today. The Hokage is expecting me."

"Oh, ok. See you tomorrow then." Naruto waved and Jiraiya left.

Sakura mindlessly bid Anko and Kakashi goodbye, fleetingly realizing that she'd seen them together more than usual. Her eyes remained on the road that Jiraiya had taken. What was going on? Was he going to talk about the subject that was worrying him? Sakura couldn't just ask him about it, but she had a feeling that it was truly important.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto brought her out of her thoughts and she turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "I asked, are we still having dinner tonight?"

"Oh." That's right. Sakura's parents had insisted that Team 7 should come over for dinner once again. "Yes. You're both coming, right?" She asked, but the question was focused mostly on Sasuke. The both of them nodded and she smiled. "All right, be at my place at 6 pm."

"Okay!" Naruto cheered and Sasuke just nodded.

"Good. I'll see you later then." Sakura waved and left the training ground at once.

Her feet carried her towards the Hokage tower at the fastest speed she assumed wouldn't be suspicious. She walked through the packed streets of the city, avoiding the rooftops, and into the tower's hall after concealing her presence. A quick wave and a smile sent at the guard was enough to put him at ease and he waved back at her. She quickly walked up the stairs and got to the Hokage's door. Sakura took a deep breath in and turned to look around making sure that no one was watching her. When she was certain that she was alone, she pressed her ear on the wooden door.

"The situation has truly become difficult." Hiruzen's voice sounded through the door. "Things might get out of hand at anytime."

"I understand, but do you honestly think that it's wise to order me to travel around?" Jiraiya said.

"Yes. I have already thought about it. It would be the best course of action. If you're around and everything takes a turn for the worst..."

"I know." Jiraiya said and Sakura faintly heard him sigh. "All right then. I'll leave tomorrow."

"I noticed that you have taken a liking to Naruto. I'm sorry that it has to be like this."

Sakura's breath caught in her throat. Jiraiya was leaving the village and apparently for a really long time. But this time around, he was not taking Naruto with him. What if Naruto never learned the sage mode or didn't perfect his rasengan? What if he didn't become as strong as he had in her original life? Would he get caught by the Akatsuki? Would Konoha be completely destroyed by Pein? It was too risky. Naruto _had_ to be trained by Jiraiya. And so, in a split second Sakura made up her mind and opened the door to Sarutobi's office.

"Please excuse me." Sakura said as she took two steps inside and closed the door behind her. Both men inside the room gaped at her, clearly shocked by the interruption. "I'm so sorry for listening in. I was just outside the door and overheard your conversation."

"And why is it that you have decided to simply walk in?" Sarutobi asked with narrowed eyes and a low voice. He was upset, but it was expected.

"Please allow Naruto to go with Jiraiya-sama, sir." Sakura said as she gestured towards the toad sannin. She knew that every shinobi, especially the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki, needed the Hokage's permission to leave he village.

"And why would I do that?" The Hokage said with a raised eyebrow.

"I know what Naruto is and I'm sure that he will always be in danger because of it. I believe that if he was trained by Jiraiya he would become stronger and would be able to protect himself. Apart from that, he lives all by himself, he doesn't have anyone at all. I've seen how much Jiraiya means to him. He seems happier and more confident. I think that going along with Jiraiya would do him a lot of good." Sakura finished her explanation and took a deep breath in. "That's all, sir."

"Hmmm." Hiruzen scratched his chin in thought and then turned to look at the toad sage. "What do you think?"

"I wouldn't mind taking him with me. He's rather entertaining." Jiraiya said with a toothy grin.

"Very well. You can take Naruto with you, if you want to." Sarutobi nodded. "Come back tomorrow before you leave, Jiraiya."

"Hai, hai." The toad sage said and walked out of the room.

When the door closed behind Sakura, she felt her shoulders tense at the fact that she was now alone with the Hokage. She intertwined her hands nervously and stared at the floor in front of her. It wasn't like her to be so careless and impulsive, but she honestly didn't know if she would've had another chance to bring that up.

"I'm so sorry, sir." Her voice was apologetic.

"You should know better than to eavesdrop on the Hokage, Sakura." He said seriously. "It could be taken as an act of treason."

"It wasn't... I just..." Sakura gulped.

"I know, child." The Hokage sighed. "I realized that there was someone outside the door as I was talking to Jiraiya. I decided that you didn't mean any harm when you walked in and talked to us."

Sakura gasped and widened her eyes in surprise. "You knew?"

"Yes, just barely though. I have to say that it's one of the greatest stealth abilities I've encountered in someone your age." He said thoughtfully. "Actually, I think the last thirteen year old with such stealth abilities was Uchiha Itachi. How did you learn such a skill?"

"Oh. I was always good at stealth… and Anko has been training me for a while." Sakura said, deeply grateful that Anko had trained her, because she wouldn't have had an excuse otherwise.

"I see. So, what brings you here?"

"I-" Sakura had been so caught up in convincing Jiraiya to take Naruto with him that she hadn't even thought about a reason for her visit to the Hokage. Her mind went through numerous options in a second as her face remained impassive. "It's actually just an idea that I had and I thought I would mention it."

"Tell me."

"On our journey to Suna I realized that their health system was quite terrible. I had some ideas of how they could improve it but didn't say anything because it was the first diplomatic mission working towards long-term peace."

"It's good that you didn't, because they might've taken it as an insult." The Hokage nodded. "You think that it would be good for our relationship to offer some help?

"I was thinking about giving them some advice. I didn't see too much of their hospital while I was there, but I have outlined some major issues that they should improve. I think that if they became aware of them it wouldn't be too hard to fix, because most of the improvements wouldn't require a bigger budget."

"Interesting. It would definitely show good will from our side." The Hokage said. "I will send word to them and offer Konoha's advice. Thank you, Sakura."

"It was my pleasure, sir." She bowed deeply and left the office at once.

Sakura felt lucky that she'd thought about Suna's situation and did in fact have some advice to give. If she hadn't and the Hokage found that she'd been eaves dropping intentionally, she would've been in some deep shit. He probably wouldn't have allowed her to leave before a thorough interrogation and she would've probably been exposed. She honestly needed to be more careful.

 **-x-**

The Uchiha's had always been a rather conservative clan. Women stayed at home as housewives, men would work as part of the police. Women would be quiet and submissive, men would be serious and collected. Every person that awakened the sharingan, regardless of gender, would be a ninja, everyone who didn't would not be. Things were pretty established and structured. Sasuke had been used to that kind of life and the associated social expectations. He had been raised within that type of society and had grown to see it as a normal thing.

Sakura's parents were the complete opposite of his own family and clan. Sakura's mother was quite reserved and serious and, honestly, one could tell that she was the dominant in the relationship. She also seemed responsible and the kind of person who would try to make things realistic and down to earth. On the other hand, Sakura's father was practically a clown. He kept on making all kinds of jokes – no matter how indecent they seemed – and laughed most of the time. He seemed quite carefree and lively, but there were still distinctive limits to what he joked about. He had a huge sense of humor, but he was clearly no fool.

The first time that Sasuke had been at Sakura's place for dinner he had been surprised by their liberal relationship and had left that place with a sense of confusion. However, as he now sat at their dinner table for a second time, he could see that they got along fine and actually had a deep connection. He could tell by the way they threw short glances and small smiles at each other.

For some reason, Sakura's parents didn't seem strange to him at all. He would've expected to feel perturbed, or at the very least dazed by their relationship, but he wasn't. Of course he was _not_ Naruto, who responded to every joke with a different one and kept on ranting about any subjects. Actually, most of the talking would be done by either Kizashi or Naruto, while Mebuki, Sakura, and Sasuke remained mostly quiet. Sasuke was not as open as his blond teammate, but he was all right with sitting with all of them for dinner.

Sasuke was actually glad that he felt that way, because he _actually_ felt like enjoying company now. Yes, Sasuke had to admit it to himself; he was not the lone and secluded person he once was.

For the longest time – ever since the massacre – he had been alone. He had actually grown used to loneliness and almost _craved_ it. He would be alone whenever he was home and would try to run from fangirls whenever he wasn't. In his alone time – which was all day long – he had kept on thinking about Itachi. His whole life, his resolve, his ideas, everything was fueled by his hate for Itachi.

However, everything changed after the second phase of the Chunin Exam. The Hokage had asked team Seven to live together for over a month. Sasuke had accepted that request immediately, because he knew that staying safe from Orochimaru was of outmost importance. The first week or two, Sasuke had felt overwhelmed by the constant company. He would spend the day with Kakashi and the evening with Naruto and Sakura. He would manage to find some free time every other day, but it had still not been nearly enough for him. However, as time went by, he became used to their company and even came to enjoy it at times.

After the invasion and Orochimaru's death, his team mates had obviously left. When they did, he had been incredibly relieved, but he soon found that he felt _lonely_. He'd actually enjoyed their company. He hadn't felt that good in years mostly because he hadn't given Itachi that much thought while they were around.

At times though, he felt a little left out. He could see and _feel_ that the bond Sakura and Naruto shared was much deeper than anything he shared with anybody. Sasuke was aware that he had chosen this path; the path of the avenger, the path of the loner. He had chosen to be alone. Surprisingly, he was almost jealous of how close they were, like family, like there was nothing to hide from each other. At times, he wondered what it would feel like to be that close to someone, to have someone he could rely on. At times, he wished he hadn't pushed everyone away for such a long time.

Sitting with such an honest and carefree family was like a rush of new air for him. He wasn't like them, but he felt as if they made up for a part of him that was missing. He felt like listening to their conversation even when he didn't talk much and they even pulled a chuckle out of him every now and then. He knew that his behavior had slowly changed, something that obviously the dobe hadn't realized. However, Sakura would sometimes throw him a curious or surprised glance and he swore that there was something close to relief in her eyes. Had she noticed the full extent of how much he had changed in the last year?

"So, teme." Naruto interrupted the Uchiha's thoughts as he started with his _third_ serving of food. "When Sakura invited us for dinner you didn't even think about it and said yes."

"What about it?" Sasuke said and inwardly scowled at the fact that even the _dobe_ had noticed his unusual behavior.

"Are you getting soft?" Naruto grinned playfully and Sasuke grunted.

"I would never be like _you_ , dobe _._ This is all about teamwork."

Naruto clearly saw through his lie and was now laughing his ass of as he clutched his belly tightly. Kizashi giggled at the exchange too. Mebuki was smiling slightly and had a knowing look on his face, while Sakura was trying hard to suppress her own smile. Sasuke noticed this and frowned as he looked down at his plate with the lightest blush on his cheeks.

"Anyways, we do make a great team, don't we?" Sakura pointed out, trying to help Sasuke out of that one; he was certainly no good when dealing with this kind of stuff.

"The chunin exam was proof." Sasuke simply pointed out and nodded in agreement. "We have a good balance."

Naruto's laughing and ranting had been going at an almost non-stop rate since they sat down, but he was now awfully quiet. Everyone turned to look at him with curiosity and probably all of them noticed the conflicted look in his eye. Sakura instantly knew what his deal was, but said nothing and waited for him to talk.

"Guys… there's something you need to know." He said in a low voice, but held the eyes of his team resolutely. Sakura was for a moment reminded of the older Naruto, the one with great leadership abilities, the one with steel resolution, the one with burning desire for justice. Her old friend; the one that had died in the fourth ninja war in her past life. She had to furtively take a big gulp out of her glass to choke down the tears that were threatening to spill at the thought of him leaving once again. "I'm leaving tomorrow at first light."

"A mission?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. Jiraiya is leaving Konoha for a long time and he offered to take me along and train me." Naruto stopped for a moment and tapped his fingers on the table, which gave everyone a glimpse on how nervous he actually was talking about the topic. "I really didn't want to leave you guys… but I truly want this. I'm sorry."

"Naruto." Sakura said with a small smile. "It's all right to choose the path that your heart tells you to."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We can also write to each other regularly." Sakura pointed out and Naruto nodded at that, his face lit up once again.

"Besides, we don't want you to drag us down." Sasuke rolled his eyes, but Sakura swore that there was the smallest glint of affection in the gesture. "You better learn everything you can from him and become strong, or I _will_ kick your ass when you come back."

"Ha! You can bet on it, dattebayo! No one will kick _my_ ass." Naruto grinned.

"Darling, you can always come for dinner when you're around." Mebuki said and then she looked at Sasuke. "You can come anytime too, even when Naruto isn't in town."

"You better come back soon! I don't want to you making Hinata miss you too much." Sakura said playfully and Naruto almost chocked on his spit as he widened his eyes. Sakura smiled widely and put one hand over each of her friends' shoulders and pulled them to her in a double hug. Naruto hugged her back with one arm and grinned. Sasuke didn't hug her back – as was expected – but he didn't push her away either and calmly accepted the gesture.

As they finished their dinner, Sakura wondered what would happen now that Naruto was leaving and Sasuke was staying. On a chunin level, teams were kind of established, but they could always be subjected to changes depending on the mission. When the Hokage thought that any team wasn't exploring the full potential of its member, it would get completely mixed up after the chunin exams and for good. Of course, it was a rare occurrence and mostly frowned upon because of how dangerous it was to put up a genin team that didn't know each other. She just hoped that Sasuke could stay on her team, because without Tsunade, Naruto _and_ Sasuke she would get truly lonely.

 **-x-**

The sun was just rising and the horizon was a bright orange when they met at the gates to bid Naruto and Jiraiya goodbye. As expected, Iruka, Sasuke and Sakura were there to bid them goodbye. Sakura was actually surprised about two other presences. First of all Kakashi. He was one of the laziest persons around and she knew for a fact that not only was he the most unpunctual shinobi in Konoha, but he also hated to wake up early. Secondly, there was Hinata. Sakura had definitely not expected Naruto to invite her over to the gates and, considering her shy nature, was actually surprised that she actually showed up. Nonetheless, it was good to see that Naruto now had more people that cared about him.

"I'm going to miss you all." Naruto said with a soft look in his eyes.

"Naruto, don't forget to write. In your letters remember to always tell me where you'll be staying next week and I'll send my letter towards that place." Sakura reminded him and walked closer to give him a tight hug. Naruto hugged her back without hesitation and then turned to the person next to her; Hinata.

"Hinata-chan." He said and looked at the floor between them in hesitation.

"Naruto-kun… I-I'll… definitely miss you." Hinata managed to blurt out despite her huge blush. Naruto looked up at her surprised and then circled his arms around her too, but in a more gently manner compared to Sakura's.

"Me too. I'll write to you too, ok?" Naruto said softly into her shoulder and then stepped back.

"You've grown so much." Iruka said and gave him a tight hug too. "Find me if you're around and I'll pay for ramen."

Naruto grinned widely, clearly planning on doing just that and then turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke."

"Dobe." Sasuke smirked and put his fist in front of him, which Naruto bumped. Sakura rolled her eyes at the inability of most males when it came to showing that they cared. "You better stay alive and become strong."

" _You_ better not fall behind, teme." Naruto snorted but his eyes were kind, a rare display of arrogance and competition mixed with affection.

"Naruto. Make sure Jiraiya finishes his books. _Don't_ interfere with his writing." Kakashi said plainly and waved at Naruto.

"Oh. I won't _interfere,_ if that's what you're worried about." Naruto chuckled in a pervy way and Hinata gasped, her face a beet red. "Oh! No, no that's not what I meant, Hinata-chan. I was just talking about how I wouldn't dare come close to any of his work."

Hinata exhaled in relief and everyone else rolled their eyes at the blatant lie; they were all aware that Naruto was already growing up to be like Kakashi and Jiraiya. Naruto ignored the gestures and simply picked up his backpack and put it on. He looked at his friends once more and then his eyes softened, probably grateful that he now had a bunch of people that sincerely cared about him. He waved at them and turned to look at Jiraiya, who was standing a couple meters behind him. Naruto nodded with determination and the two of them took off.

Kakashi and Iruka soon departed, leaving Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinata at the gates. Hinata seemed to feel out of place, because she soon left as well. Sakura stared at the pathway in front of her with soft eyes until Jiraiya and Naruto were mere dots in the distance.

It would be hard without Naruto around. She had always counted on him when she thought about who she could turn to if she needed someone to know about her time travel. She knew that he would be back _someday,_ but who knew what could happen while he was away?

"I'll miss him a lot." She confessed quietly. She felt Sasuke shift a bit next to her and threw a short glance his way. He was looking at the ground in front of him, as if in deep thought.

"You really do rely on him a lot, don't you?" Sasuke said quietly and turned to look at Sakura.

"I do." Sakura said as she looked back at the road he had taken and remembered the Naruto in her previous life. "Naruto was the one who actually taught me what trust was, how it's always a two-way thing. He decided to trust me and rely on me first and in return I opened up to him. He really is remarkable."

Sakura felt Sasuke's silence stretch for a moment as her eyes were still on the road and then it dawned on her. Wouldn't Sasuke feel that she was leaving him out? Wouldn't he be angry or upset? Sakura scratched her palms with her fingernails and then slowly turned to look at Sasuke. He was looking at her thoroughly and there was an unusual glint in his eye, but Sakura could not decide what it was. Sasuke bit his lip for a moment as he turned his eyes at the ground and Sakura feared that he would leave, but he looked up at her with resolve.

"Are you busy now?"

"Now? I have training with Anko in an hour or so." Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Good." Sasuke nodded and turned around. "Come."

Sakura wanted to ask where they were going, but faintly sensed that it was something out of the ordinary and decided to just follow him. Sakura walked a bit behind Sasuke and watched with curiosity as he clenched and unclenched his fists. His shoulders were tense and his eyes were trained on the ground in deep thought. There was something important on his mind and Sakura wondered if he was going to tell her about it.

The streets of Konoha were empty and there were only a couple of supply vendors going around towards the commercial streets. They passed the center of the village and walked a bit towards the outskirts and suddenly Sasuke stopped. Sakura looked at him, but he was facing away from her towards a large door. It was the entrance to the now deserted Uchiha Compound. As Sasuke walked towards the doors and opened them with a key that he kept in his pocket, Sakura felt her heart race.

 _What is going on? Why is he bringing me here? Is there something out of place? Is Itachi here? Does he suspect anything about his clan?_

Sakura followed him into the compound and closed the door behind her quietly. She hurried after Sasuke and allowed her eyes to take in the place that had been his home once. Every house and store was run down and abandoned in a way that made it look like a ghost town. Also, everything seemed to have been left in a hurry; there were still tea mugs on cafe tables and toys on some doorsteps. The buildings were rather crowded when compared to the streets on the outside and it was clear to Sakura that it was because the clan had been treated as a ghetto during the last years of its existence. Sasuke led Sakura into a slightly larger house, which Sakura assumed by the looks of it that it had belonged to the head of the Clan. In other words, it had been his parents' house. Sakura bit her lip in anticipation and wondered what had happened that Sasuke had brought her here. Sasuke suddenly stopped walking and Sakura stopped right behind him looking at his back.

"Do you know where we are?" Sasuke asked in a low voice and she swore it was trembling a bit.

"The Uchiha Compound." Sakura answered in almost a whisper. "This used to be your house, didn't it?"

Sasuke nodded with his back still turned at her, so she couldn't see his expression. They stayed quiet for a couple more minutes and Sakura was itching to ask what was going on, but bit her tongue. Sasuke took a deep breath and turned around to face her. His eyes were so deep with emotion - something Sakura hadn't seen in this lifetime - that she felt like crying. Everything he felt about his family was exposed in his obsidian orbs; the longing, the love, the rage, the guilt, the confusion. His inner turmoil was more than apparent but he still managed to speak in a rather steady voice.

"You've heard about what happened with my clan." He stated and Sakura nodded in confirmation. "I never expected that to happen. I was so young and naive. I didn't understand anything about the real world. I had a family that I took for granted. I wanted to impress my father and make him like me as much as my brother. I wanted my mother to not embarrass me in front of my friends. I wanted my older brother to teach me new techniques. I never knew..."

A few moments of silence filled the room and Sakura swore she could hear a spider crawling on the ceiling because of how eerie it was. Sasuke looked down and at the floor in between them and scowled in anger.

"I came back to the compound one night. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. I could tell that something was wrong. And then I saw them... corpses and the blood was everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, on plants and furniture. I felt so scared... I wanted to leave. But I couldn't. My family was somewhere inside." Sasuke's breathing pattern was slightly erratic, his emotional strain clear in his whole behavior. His trembling hand rose slowly and pointed towards a closed room. "I found him there. Behind my parents' bodies. _Itachi_ , my brother. He had killed them. He had killed everyone."

Sasuke's voice cracked at the end and he slammed a closed fist against the wall, making a crack on it. Sakura almost jumped at the unexpected reaction but made no other move.

"He forced me to see everything with his sharingan." He whispered and his sorrowful eyes met Sakura's. "The way he killed every one of them. The way their faces contorted in fear and disbelief. How the other children - my friends - tried to run in vain. How my mother and father bled to death on the ground. He showed it all to me over and over again."

Sakura felt her heart constrict in her chest and tears form in her eyes. She'd always known about Sasuke's pain, but she had never seen it in his eyes, heard it in his voice. Her own feelings for him were swirling dangerously and threatening to spill over. After keeping all that bottled up within and facing everything alone, it was no wonder Sasuke had lost his mind in her past life.

"It took me years to manage a single night without nightmares." Sasuke's voice was little and he was staring at the ground with squinted eyes. "It was so hard to tell the authorities what I'd seen. I... it is still difficult to talk about it. I have never actually told anyone out of my own accord... until now."

Sasuke looked up once again and this time his eyes seemed slightly clearer. He was no longer being controlled by his emotions and was looking at Sakura in the eye. His eyes flicked with uncertainty and Sakura realized that he was expecting something from her. Some kind of reaction. She put a hand on his shoulder in kindness – not wanting to step into his private space – and locked her eyes with his, hoping that all that she felt would somehow transfer to Sasuke.

"Thank you." Sakura's face was as soft as her voice while she squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. "For telling me this. For trusting me."

Sasuke eyes widened slightly in surprise. He definitely didn't expect Sakura to react like that. What had he expected? Pity? Silence? Anger towards his brother? Somehow, the fact that Sakura hadn't reacted in any of those ways made warmth creep up Sasuke's chest. He didn't want pity, silence or more anger in his life; he'd gotten enough of that as it was. She had showed him understanding with her eyes and had understood how hard it was for him to share his trauma with her. Sasuke looked back at Sakura for another moment and felt the smallest smile tug at the corner of his lips – something he thought he'd never _ever_ manage in this place.

"Thank _you,_ Sakura." He said and, even though his face was almost blank, Sakura could still see the gratefulness ooze out though his eyes and fill the whole atmosphere.

There were different kinds of people, and there were just as many types of expressiveness. There were people like Naruto, who were thoroughly open with what they thought and felt and expressed it blatantly with their whole person. And there were also people like Sasuke, who were mostly introverted and kept their emotions to themselves, thoughts and ideas hidden as something private and intimate. They only showed their feelings in small gestures, glances and actions. The fact that Sasuke was actually letting his emotions reach out to her was shaking her to her core. But it was the fact that he had shared his most personal memory with her that made her burst. Her arms shot up to bring Sasuke closer in a tight hug as she buried her head into his shoulder.

"I don't mean to say that I understand what you've gone through." She said quietly. "But I want you to know that you can always count on me if you're feeling down no matter what."

"Hn." Sasuke mumbled and she felt one of his hands gently rest on her shoulder, a clear sign of acceptance for both her suggestion and her hug.

Not wanting to stretch her luck with Sasuke, Sakura slowly pulled back and exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She looked at him and noticed that he seemed somehow clueless about what do to next, since he was casting furtive glances around him.

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

"Hn." He said and shook his head.

"Wanna get some?" she offered and Sasuke nodded. " _Please_ not ramen this time though."

Sasuke smirked slightly and the two headed out of the Uchiha Compound in comfortable silence. As they walked down the streets towards the center of the village, Sakura came to two realizations.

The first one, was that she suddenly knew why Sasuke had suddenly told her about the massacre. She had just told him about how Naruto had opened up to her and they had built a trusting friendship from it. Sasuke had actually _decided_ to tell her not because he had suddenly felt like it, or out of need, but because of a _choice_ that he had made to open up to her. He had chosen to take that first step towards trusting someone.

The second realization was just in line with the first. Now, Sasuke _deserved_ to know the truth about her time travel, it was only fair. Not just that, but he would probably be capable of handling the truth. However, probably was the catchy word, since he was pretty irrational about his clan's death – something that had been proven in her past life. If she wanted to tell him _everything,_ she would have to make sure to build a real trust between them first.

Sakura knew that she was scared to death of the idea of telling him about it, but _swore_ that she would not back out. She _swore_ that she would find a way to help him accept the truth about the massacre _and_ about his past actions in a rational manner. And when he did, they would both find the evidence needed and put the council behind bars.

 **A/N: OK! Here was another SasuSaku scene.**

 **I don't think he was too OOC – considering that this Sasuke is turning out to be slightly different than the original one. I've tried to portray his development in a way that I think is in line with how he was at the beginning of the series.**

 **Also, there's something fishy going on – remember the scene with Jiraiya? Can you guess what it is?**

 **Are you guys sad that Naruto actually left?**

 **Anyways, tell me what you think about this chapter in general! I** _ **love**_ **you input and support!**

 **Thank you so much!**


	23. Birthday News

**CHAPTER 23**

"Forehead." Ino smiled after opening the door to her house. She moved aside and waited for Sakura to come in, then motioned with her hands for her to hurry. "Come on, I don't have all day."

"Ahhh, that's not polite, Pig. You can't just treat a guest like that… much less if it's your guest's birthday." Sakura feigned hurt and pressed her hand to her chest as she entered.

"Oh, shush." Ino laughed and closed the door behind Sakura. She turned around and eyed the pinkette for a moment before smiling kindly and hugging her tightly. "Happy Birthday, Forehead."

Sakura smiled too and returned the hug. They walked down the corridor and into the living room of her house. Both girls sat down on the floor and around the small table that was on one corner, where there was a streaming teapot that filled the room with the scent of jasmines.

"I haven't seen you in forever." Ino said as she filled two mugs with tea. "I think that the last time I saw you was just before Naruto left… was that two months ago?" Sakura thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Damn, forehead! We have to make more time to see each other!"

"We do." Sakura agreed and sighed. "I just have been pretty busy these past months, you know?"

"What, the life of a chunin is too demanding for you?" Ino raised an eyebrow in slight mockery.

"No. It's just that he Hokage has assigned Shikamaru, Sasuke and I to attend classes on guard duty. So, the past month and a half I've been struggling with hospital shifts, training, guard duty classes and reconstruction."

"Are you still doing that reconstruction stuff? I thought chunin would be assigned to something bigger." Ino frowned.

"We are. I'm supposed to finish with guard classes this week and then I will be able to leave for real missions." Sakura sighed. Staying out of _real_ duty for so long was a drag, since she needed to start looking out for the Akatsuki – more specifically, Obito – and couldn't do a thing from inside the village. The most annoying thing was that, besides dealing with her own frustration on the matter, she had to put up with Sasuke's constant attitude. It's _not_ that Sakura didn't enjoy his company, but he could really become somewhat irritating when he felt stuck and bored. However, despite how much he complained during their time together – which was a lot if you counted training, instruction and reconstruction – she really looked forward to seeing him every day. In her opinion, he also seemed to quite enjoy her company, but she might be seeing things with a bit too much optimism.

"What's on your mind, huh?" Ino's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Could it be… a boy?"

"What?!" Sakura's eyes widened and she blushed at the fact that her friend had caught her red handed. She tried to act oblivious. "Why would you think that?"

" _Nailed it!_ " Ino cheered, completely ignoring Sakura's attempt at feigning ignorance. "Come on! Who is it? A chunin you just met? A _jonin_ you met? A civilian?"

"Er… not really." Sakura sighed, knowing that it wouldn't be good to keep it hidden from her friend any longer. "Well… it's someone that's been there for a while – I, uh…"

"It's Sasuke, isn't it?" Ino deadpanned and Sakura gasped in surprise. "I've known forever. You never stopped liking him, did you?" Ino watched as Sakura shook her head and looked down at the tea mug in her hands. "I saw that something changed in the way you looked at him… suddenly you weren't acting like a girl with a crush, like a fangirl. At first I thought that you'd actually gotten over him… but then I noticed something beneath it all. You looked at him the way my mom looks at my dad. I-"

"Ino…" Sakura frowned. "I really couldn't help it. Don't be angry-"

"Hush! Don't you know that it's rude to cut someone off? Jeez." Ino sighed. "Anyways, I watched those small changes for a while and realized something. What I thought I'd felt for Sasuke… it was bullshit, wasn't it?" Ino snorted. "I just liked him because he was good-looking, cool, talented and an Uchiha. But I never knew _him._ I realized that you probably did – since you've been in his team for a while and all – and therefore felt something _real_ for him. I felt stupid. Like a child who had been chasing an idea she truly knew nothing of. So, I've decided I'll forget about Sasuke. So don't you go panicking on me now, Forehead."

Sakura exhaled in relief and looked up at Ino. "That's good to know. I wouldn't want to endure your jealousy… that must be bothersome."

"Jeez, now _you're_ talking like Shikamaru." Ino grunted and then waved her hands in front of her face, as if waving an imaginary Shikamaru away. "Anyways, is there any progress?"

"With what? Sasuke?" Sakura snorted. "Nothing at all. I mean, we're friends, but that's all there is to it. He's rather… touchy so I wouldn't want to risk fucking everything up."

"He is, isn't he? I remember back at the academy how he would stare at the poor wall all day long." Ino giggled and Sakura chuckled at the accurate portrait of him.

"Anyways, enough about me. What about you?"

"Oh, just the usual. I'm still working at the flower shop a couple afternoons every week, train and complete low ranked missions with my team. It's pretty boring."

"There must be something else." Sakura said. "I haven't been the only one with little time to meet, you've also seemed quite busy. There's a reason why we had to meet for _breakfast_ on my birthday."

"Well… there actually is. It's kind of a family thing, but I guess it's fine if I tell you." Ino tapped her chin. "My Clan is working on developing a more advanced version of the Saiko Denshin,"

"Oh?" Sakura raised her eyebrows. "How can reading a mind even be perfected beyond that jutsu?"

Ino smirked at the unspoken compliment and shrugged. "We don't know yet. It's just that the Clan feels like we're a bit stuck when it comes to jutsu development and are therefore trying to somehow improve what we've got."

"Hm…" Sakura frowned for a moment and closed her eyes. She'd been trying to find a way to arrest the council someday, but she still hadn't found a way due to how much power they had. An idea had crossed her mind some time ago but it had seemed quite unrealistic. "Is it all right if I suggest something?"

"I can't see why not." Ino raised an eyebrow at her friend's reluctance.

"When I found out that your Clan could enter someone's subconscious and extract any information needed, even if it had been forgotten or blocked… I was surprised that we didn't use such abilities in battle." Sakura said and the blonde frowned in question. "I wondered… why not let more than one person find about the target's memories? If that could be achieved-"

"Then we would immediately find out the opponents weakness." Ino widened her eyes in understanding.

"If someone from your Clan could transmit the memories that they extracted into other people, it would be a great asset during battles. I also thought about how such an ability could be used for group interrogation or in a public trial."

"Wow, forehead. That's actually a good idea. I will talk with my father about it." Ino said and smirked. "I will tell him that it was my idea though."

"You really are a pig, aren't you?" Sakura rolled her eyes but there was a small smile on her lips.

"Anyways, enough chit-chat. You're supposed to go training soon, aren't you?" Ino said and Sakura nodded. "We have little time. Come."

Sakura followed Ino into the kitchen and watched as she opened up a shelf to pull out a metallic mold. The blonde put in on the table and turned around proudly to face Sakura. Sakura walked closer and saw that the mold was wrapped with a white cloth. Ino took the cloth off with one pull and made a winning pose.

"Ta-dah!"

"Is this…?"

"Yes, it is."

"Did you…?"

"Yes, _I_ did _._ " Ino smirked.

Anmitsu had always been Sakura's number one favorite dessert by far. She had always enjoyed eating it anywhere, anytime. Ever since Sakura could remember, she had asked her mother to let her have Anmitsu instead of cake for her birthday, but her mother had always said that it was a dessert for a different occasion and declined her request. Now, in front of her was the most delicious thing Sakura had ever seen; an Anmitsu _cake_ – somehow Ino had managed to make it. Sakura faintly remembered Ino attending her birthdays when they were still small kids – before the Sasuke rivalry. Sakura felt bubbly happiness in her chest at the thought that Ino had remembered her requests to her family after all these years.

"I can't believe you remember that." Sakura said with a wide smile.

"I'm the master of Mind Jutsus. Of _course_ I wouldn't forget." Ino giggled. "Come on, let us try it before you have to leave."

"It looks nice. I just hope that I won't die of food poisoning." Sakura said and Ino rolled her eyes as the two sat down in front of the kitchen counter.

"Ha! I bet that when I see you tomorrow you'll be twice your size." Ino smirked and Sakura suddenly remembered that the next day there would be-

"The Hokage's announcement." Her eyes were wide. "I had completely forgotten about that."

"The Hokage rarely ever summons the entire village for an announcement, so it must be pretty important. And yet, you somehow didn't remember." Ino rolled her eyes. "Apparently your brain has shrunk, because _how_ can you forget about that?"

"It must've been the tea." Sakura feigned hurt. "I can't believe you actually poisoned it."

"Just shut up and eat, Forehead."

 **-x-**

Ino's Anmitsu cake had been something out of this world for Sakura. It had been so good, that she had stayed for a second serving and had left too late to manage to go by her home. Therefore, Sakura had arrived at the usual spot for training with Anko with the cake in her hands. Obviously, Anko had laughed at her for at least a whole minute, saying that it was hilarious to see someone with cake in the training grounds. Sakura was at least grateful that Anmitsu had ingredients that wouldn't easily spoil if left out. At the end of their training, Anko approached Sakura and pointed to the cake that was on a rock under the shade of a tree.

"Anyways, why do you have a cake? Is it your birthday?"

"Yeah. I turned fourteen today."

"YOU'RE SUCH A BRAT!" Anko laughed loudly and patted Sakura on the shoulder. "I sometimes forget your real age."

Sakura rolled her eyes and sat down in front of her gift, slowly unwrapping it and taking in its delicious scent.

"Damn. This is _so_ good." She said and eyed Anko playfully. "Too bad it wouldn't look good for an adult jonin like you to share cake with a brat under a tree."

" _And_ in the training grounds." Anko added with a smirk and then shrugged. "I don't see why that would matter to me. I hardly care about other people's opinion."

"If anyone came over and-"

"Oh, shut up and give me some, will ya?" Anko plopped herself down and ate some of Sakura's cake without waiting for an answer. Sakura laughed a bit as she watched Anko's eyes go wide at the delicious taste of the dessert. "Ow my gawd. Thish ish saw goowd."

"You're just like Naruto." Sakura smiled softly as she remembered her blonde friend, from whom she hadn't received a letter in almost two weeks.

"Don't compare me to that brat!" Anko yelled after swallowing the rest of her food. "Anyways, I won't be able to attend the group training today. I have a busy afternoon today."

"Oh? Ok." Sakura noticed a salacious glint in Anko's eye, but didn't ask about it.

"Thanks for the cake, I'll see you at the announcement tomorrow. Bye!"

Sakura watched as Anko stood up, dusted her clothes and left in a dash. Sakura wondered for a moment if she should go out and get a proper lunch or just eat cake and stay there in the training ground, where she was supposed to meet Sasuke and Kakashi anyways. In the end, she chose the latter, because it couldn't hurt to have _one_ unhealthy meal, especially on her birthday.

Sakura slowly ate the Anmitsu cake, savoring the sweetness in it and lying down on the grass. She closed her eyes enjoying the winter sun on her face and the soft wind that blew her short hair. Sakura had truly expected to finish the whole cake, but the sweetness had finally been too much for her and she decided to leave some for later. Her fingertips caressed the grass beneath her hands. It was a rough variety of grass that she wasn't particularly fond of.

Sakura suddenly chuckled at how irrelevant her thoughts were. Cake. Grass. It would appear as if she didn't have any troubles at all. As if there wasn't an immortal beast on its way. As if there wasn't a world war on its way. As if the Akatsuki weren't on their way. As if the fact that Kisame and Itachi hadn't come to Konoha wasn't a constant subconscious threat in the back of her mind.

Sakura had actually been quite worried about that when Naruto left. Would they be caught during their travelling? Would Itachi and Kisame come to Konoha anyways? After a while though, she had soon realized the reason they hadn't come this time around. Despite Pein – or more specifically Tobi – being the leader of Akatsuki, Itachi still had quite a say on the way things worked inside the organization. Sakura was certain that he had come to Konoha after the invasion because of Sarutobi's death and how Sasuke would be left unprotected. Now that the Third was still alive, he had no reason to come and send a message. Nonetheless, Sakura was aware that she couldn't let her guard down.

There was another thing that was now in her mind; the announcement. The Hokage rarely ever called for a public announcement, which usually happened roughly once a year. Sakura wondered if the announcement had anything to do with all the looming threats that she knew of; Akatsuki, Orochimaru, and so on. However, she would only figure that out when the announcement was made. She assumed that it would not make a difference if she put too much thought into it in advance.

Sakura knew that she was taking a _long_ time to make her move against Obito – actually not truly against him, rather towards him – and to stop the Fourth Great Ninja War. However, Sakura had at least made sure that the threat of Orochimaru was now gone and that Sasuke was safe. Besides, she was certain that once she finished her guard classes this week, she would start receiving missions as a chuunin. She would prove her worth on the field as a fighter and as a medic. She would make sure to be sent on high ranked missions and, when that happened, Sakura would get her chance to finish what she'd come to do. She would find Obito and stop the Akatsuki, they would stop Konoha from being destroyed by Pein and prevent the creation of the Ten-tails.

After an hour of relaxing on the ground, Sakura's thoughts were interrupted when she felt Sasuke's presence approach. A smiled tugged at one side of her lips. Sakura had expected their friendship to become slightly awkward after the exchange at the Uchiha Compound. Surprisingly, it had actually been the other way around. Sasuke was still as reserved and quiet as always, but there was something that had changed. While he had usually masked his feelings and reacted quite defensively – probably as an unconscious defense mechanism – he now was much calmer. Also, his usually obsidian eyes were no longer guarded and instead showed much more feeling when he was around her. His eyes would slightly soften every now and then, his eyebrows would freely rise to express curiosity or surprise and they would shine with playfulness or good-natured pretension. The changes were not too noticeable, but considering that the person in question was _Sasuke_ it was actually a great improvement.

Given how much he seemed to have changed from the boy that had defected from the village – in her previous life, Sasuke would have left the village six months ago – she had been thinking how she should start telling him the _truth_. She decided that she should do it slowly. Maybe, at first, she would help him find out about the unusual conditions during which his clan had been massacred and make sure that he was processing the information calmly. Maybe he would come to some conclusions on his own. Sakura could try to walk him through everything and be supportive with him. When the time came when she was certain about his composure on the whole thing, she would tell him about her time travel. She'd been thinking about it for a while and had decided that it was the safest approach possible.

"Hey." Sasuke said as he sat down next to her.

"Hey." she smiled with still closed eyes as she enjoyed the last seconds of rest. She noticed that a presence was missing and opened one eye, directing it at the raven haired teen next to her. "Where's Kakashi?"

"He said there was something he had to do and that he wouldn't be coming today."

"Really? Anko said the same thing."

Was Anko with Kakashi right now? What would they have to do at the same time that they couldn't tell them? Was it a mission? Why had there been a mischievous glint in Anko's eye?

Oh. _Oh._

Well, Sakura could be wrong… but she had seen the two of them together in town more than once. And they had spent too much time with Jiraiya before he left with Naruto.

"Do you think Anko's sleeping with Kakashi?" Sakura blurted out before she could register that her words could be uncomfortable for a thirteen year old boy.

"What?" Sasuke sharply turned his head to look at her, his eyes slightly widened.

"Oh. I mean…" Sakura bit her lip for a moment. "I've seen them around a lot, together. And today Anko had a sly glint in her eye when she told me that she'd be busy. I actually wondered if she was going on a date or meeting with a man. So… when you said that Kakashi wouldn't be here either…"

"I understand why you said that. It's definitely a possibility. Those two are perverts anyways." Sasuke said as bluntly as he could, but Sakura could see a faint blush on his cheeks. The silence stretched and Sakura watched with slight amusement how Sasuke's awkwardness seemed to increase with every passing second. It was incredible what the simple mention of sex did to young teenagers. He looked so much like a boy when he had a slight blush on his cheeks and averted eyes. Sakura knew that she might regret this if things went downhill, but she felt the unbearable need to tease him.

"Kakashi hasn't taught you anything on that matter, has he?" she asked as matter-of-factly as she could.

"What? No!" he almost chocked on his spit and frowned in confusion. "Why would he?"

"Oh, you know. Since we're shinobi and all. Besides, he's a huge perv." Sakura shrugged.

"He definitely hasn't." Sasuke said with a resolute voice and then turned his face forwards again to look at the trees. After a couple seconds he spoke again, but his voice was smaller. "What about… has Anko…?"

"What? Taught me?" Sakura waved it off casually. "Oh, not really. She has just talked with me about it a bit, but it hasn't been exactly teaching."

Of course Sakura and Anko had talked about sex, but it was mostly sharing ideas and thoughts about it. Despite Sakura having only read about it in Jiraiya's books, she was not too far behind Anko – who had openly expressed how much experience she actually had. Sasuke eyed her incredulously for a moment and then he cleared his throat.

"A-Anyways. We should train."

Sakura nodded as she decided drop the subject, stood up quickly and stretched her cold muscles. Her rational mind was screaming at her for teasing Sasuke with such a subject, because it could've backfired on her. Her other mind – her now mostly quiet Inner– was screaming at her for stopping, saying that they had to take every chance she got when it came to Sasuke.

"What should we do today?" Sakura said, pushing her inner's thoughts to the back of her mind.

"What about a speed-only spar?" Sasuke proposed. "I haven't tried my sharingan to its fullest against your speed yet, which I figure has improved since you're training with Anko."

"Interesting. When you say only speed, I imagine that you're not talking about hand-signs."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded. "Just speed-based taijutsu."

Sakura locked eyes with him, smirked and nodded. It would actually be good for her to try that approach, since she still relied too much on her chakra enhanced strength – even though she only used a small fraction of her ability. She crouched a bit and lowered her stance.

"So, no hiding, no traps, no weapons, no genjutsu, no ninjutsu, no chakra-enhancing and so on. I would leave bloodline limits out too, but you'll probably loose otherwise."

"I could leave it out and still beat your ass, but I need to train my eyes." Sasuke frowned. Sakura raised an eyebrow smugly, clearly showing that she believed it to be a bluff. If there was anyone that was the best option for Sasuke to train his doujutsu, that would be Kakashi and not Sakura. Then again, Kakashi was not the most hardworking teacher around and might just refuse Sasuke's requests of a real spar. "Tch. I'll show you that I'm just as good without it."

Sakura smirked and bent her knees a bit and raised her guard, while Sasuke mirrored her actions. In the blink of an eye, the two of them were caught up in a blur of colors. Sakura didn't use chakra to enhance her speed since they'd decided to not use chakra at all and she'd believed that her unenhanced speed would be enough. After a couple minutes, Sakura was surprised to notice that Sasuke was actually on par with her when it came to natural speed. She knew that he was a genius, the best of their graduation year, but she was only now starting to realize how good he actually was. He hadn't even been training his speed with Kakashi – she knew for a fact that he had mostly been training his doujutsu and ninjutsu with him - and yet was as good as Sakura, who had been working on her speed with Anko – amongst other things.

Every kick Sasuke sent, Sakura managed to dodge. Every punch Sakura aimed, Sasuke would block. After over fifteen minutes of not managing to catch the other off guard, Sasuke jumped a good ten meters back.

"Not bad." Sasuke smirked with raised eyebrows. He clearly hadn't expected Sakura to be as fast as he was. He knew that she was smart, knew some useful ninjutsu and could enhance her speed and strength with chakra. But he hadn't known that her _natural_ speed was this good. "Too bad that you'll lose now."

Sasuke's sharingan came to life as he jumped at Sakura once again and they engaged in taijutsu once again. This time however, she noticed that Sasuke was gaining the upper hand. While he didn't seem to be having any trouble dodging her attacks, she barely had time to move out of the way. His fist had lightly brushed her more than once.

Suddenly, Sasuke aimed a low kick towards her thigh while standing too close to her. Sakura widened her eyes and moved to block it, but she was not fast enough. His kick connected and she was sent backwards, but managed to land on her feet. Sasuke had not wasted a second and had launched into another attack.

"Aaaghh!" He screamed as he aimed to punch her jaw.

Sakura raised her arms in a cross, but her footing hadn't been firm enough on the ground from the previous assault. So, when her arms blocked his punch, she was sent back a couple meters and landed on the ground. Sakura inwardly cursed and twisted her body to get up once again, but when she was in the middle of her motion she was pushed back down from her side.

Sakura was sneaky and Sasuke didn't usually win their encounters, so he wasn't going to take any chances. He used his whole body weight to push her down on the ground, holding her in a lock using both arms and legs. Since this was a taijutsu only spar, he couldn't prove his win with a kunai to her throat.

Sakura had known that she would lose the moment that Sasuke's kick had landed. There was no way that he was going to let her get away with it when he was using his sharingan to read her moves and she was not allowed to use chakra. She knew that she was expected to yield, especially now that she was immobilized.

However the feeling of Sasuke's legs intertwined with her own, his hands tightly securing her own. His hips and lower stomach pressed to her side and his eyes looking down at her from no further than two palms away… Sakura couldn't help be feel enchanted as she looked back at him. Sakura could faintly smell the air he was breathing and it made her feel slightly dizzy.

Sasuke's eyes were now back to obsidian as he looked down at Sakura. He must've noticed that her behavior was strange, because his expression was slightly puzzled. His eyes observed her for another moment and then widened in a barely noticeable way. And then they were back to normal. But he didn't move away. Sakura looked up at him and she felt her breath catch in her throat at how intently he was staring down at her. She fought the giddiness building inside of her and forced herself to keep a straight face. She somehow managed to pull off a poker face, as if there wasn't a boy – _Sasuke_ – holding her down with his whole body.

After what seemed like years, but were probably around 10 seconds, Sasuke smirked in smug way. He released his hold on her and stood up, allowing her to sit up too. Sakura wordlessly got to her feet and dusted her clothes. She looked up at him and swallowed thickly.

"I need to get to the hospital." Sakura announced. It was an unspoken rule amongst shinobi that after sparring with taijutsu only, they would usually stop their training due to how physically tiring it was.

"Aa." Sasuke said. "I have to go too."

Sakura was actually feeling pretty nervous and clueless about the weird moment with Sasuke and had expected to have some time to herself. Why had his eyes seemed that intense as he stared back at her? Had he been _counting_ to ten to mark his win? Had it been something else? Maybe he had noticed that he was actually looming over an actual girl, but then again it was Sasuke so maybe it would take a long time before he ever questioned such a thing. Did it have anything to do with the conversation about Anko and Kakashi?

Sakura was about to start walking when she remembered her cake. She yelped and turned around to run towards the tree where she'd left it. When she came back, the item wrapped in white was being held in front of her. As they walked, Sasuke looked at it curiously and Sakura caught the hidden question.

"It's Anmitsu. Ino made it for me as a special arrangement. Do you want some?"

"I don't like sweets." Sasuke simply said and there was an almost cordial tone in his voice. Sakura wondered if it was his way of thanking for the offer.

"I've heard you say that before." She frowned. "I can't believe you don't. Sweet is one of the best flavors ever. Some might not stand to eat too much of it, but I don't think I've ever heard of someone who plainly doesn't like it. Well, apart from you."

"Fruit sweetness is fine." He stated. "But sugar is _too_ sweet. Besides, it's bad for your health."

"I know." Sakura said. She was well aware of how sugar screwed her bones, liver, kidneys and many other internal organs and functions. However… "But it's so good! I love how it tastes so much that I don't really care about that. Besides, I don't eat sweets all day long."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It's just like alcohol and tobacco…"

Sakura said nothing but inwardly smiled in a sheepish way. She had definitely drank alcohol in her past life, and she'd tried tobacco too. Of course, she couldn't tell Sasuke any of this; she was supposed to be thirteen – _fourteen_ now – after all. Sakura faintly noticed that, as they talked, the awkwardness that at least she'd felt on the training ground was gone.

Sasuke and Sakura walked together back from training every other day. Sakura would always go to the hospital after training and Sasuke would sometimes need to go grocery shopping – it seemed that he was actually _cooking_ stuff now. When that happened, they would walk together until the front of the hospital, which was on their way to the center of town, and then Sasuke would keep going alone. When they were in front of the hospital, Sasuke waved Sakura goodbye and turned around to leave.

"Sakura-san!" A voice made Sakura turn around towards the left and she felt Sasuke stop walking away too - probably out of curiosity.

Sitting on a bench just in front of the hospital's entrance was Lee, who was now standing up with some difficulty. He had been released from the hospital two weeks ago and must've probably been allowed to walk around only a few days ago.

"Hi. How are you doing, Lee?" Sakura smiled a bit and took one step closer to him.

"I'm fine. And all thanks to you." Lee said as he straightened up and then stiffly bowed down low. "You saved my life back there!"

"It's all right." Sakura nodded.

"I came here to give you a gift!" He said, standing straight once again. He pushed his hands forward and locked his determined eyes with Sakura. "Happy birthday!"

Sakura felt Sasuke stiffen behind her and she nervously accepted the gift. It was a small letter and a coupon to eat dango - thankfully just for one person, so she wouldn't be expected to eat out with Lee.

"It's a token of my feelings for you!"

"Ah. Thank you, Lee." Sakura tried to sound grateful and not as crept out as she felt. She felt like she somehow now understood a bit how awkward it had to be for Sasuke with all those fangirls.

"Sakura-san. I know that you said that you weren't interested in having boyfriend yet, but if you ever wish to date anyone, please think of me!"

"Err... I'll try to remember that."

"I know that you work hard, so I'll leave you now!" Lee waved and started walking away. "Enjoy the youthful food and letter!"

Sakura sweatdropped and one of her eyes twitched as she waved him goodbye. However, when she turned around, her eyes landed on Sasuke who was staring at her firmly. Sakura looked at him and waited for a couple seconds, but Sasuke said nothing. She cleared her throat and tilted her head in question.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's your birthday." He stated bluntly.

"Yes?" Sakura nodded, not getting why he was upset.

"You didn't tell me." He pointed out with exasperation. Sakura had been pretty sure that he had already known about the date already. Had he forgotten until now? It was unlikely; he had the best brains of their generation after Shikamaru and herself. Had he been faking ignorance?

"Oh... I didn't think you cared about that kind of stuff."

"I don't particularly, but I still would've wanted to congratulate you." He grunted and averted his eyes. Sakura swore for a moment that there was an almost imperceptible twitch at the corner of his lips.

"Sorry." Sakura mumbled and looked at the floor in front of her.

"Are you free for dinner after your shift?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"I am." Sakura felt her heartbeat race. Could it be? Would Sasuke ask her out on a date or something? Was the look back at the training ground more than-

"We should go to Ichiraku's with Kakashi."

Oh. Right. They'd been doing that for every birthday since the team was formed. Even though Naruto wasn't around, it made sense that they would keep the tradition. Of course Sasuke wouldn't ask her on a date. Why had she even thought about that? She suddenly felt stupid for thinking that way.

"Ok. Let's meet there at 7 pm." Sakura managed to speak normally and keep a straight face.

"I'll inform Kakashi." He said and then left with a small wave.

Sakura sighed in disdain and walked into the hospital slowly. When she passed the entrance hall, she came across a black haired woman.

"Shizune-san!" Sakura greeted with a smile, immediately forgetting her disappointment. Shizune has started working at the Konoha hospital a month ago.

Hiruzen had offered her to be the head of the surgery department due to her experience and the hospital's head medic has immediately agreed. Sakura had been so happy to see her there. She'd wanted to talk to her and get to know her once again, but sadly Sakura was part of a completely different department - the one that treated traumatic accidents - so she barely got to see her. They'd worked together twice on surgeries that had involved both parties. Shizune had been impressed by Sakura's abilities and they had talked a bit and now greeted when they met at the hall.

"Sakura-chan." Shizune smiled warmly. "How are you doing?"

"My shift's about to start, I just got here. What about you?"

"Oh, lucky you." Shizune sighed. "I've been around for 11 hours straight and I've still got a couple more hours to go."

"You've got a lot of responsibility on your shoulders, huh?"

"You have no idea." Shizune sighed, not knowing how much Sakura could actually relate to her. "Anyways, gotta get back to work."

"Keep it up, sempai!"

When Shizune was out of sight, Sakura walked towards the hospital wing where she worked. She was really glad that Shizune was there now. They were not close at all, but at least the older woman knew Sakura's name and abilities. If Sakura managed to get under her skin, it wouldn't only make her happy, but she might also convince her to start teaching her. And then she would have some sort of excuse for her abilities, since Shizune had trained under Tsunade. However, Sakura didn't want to seem desperate or be suspicious - they'd only met a week ago - and had decided to ask her sometime later.

 **-x-**

Four hours later, Sakura's shift had ended and she'd gone home to leave the cake in the kitchen. She had to stay for a while and drink tea with her parents, because as her father had stated 'they also wanted a piece of her and it wasn't fair to only spend her special day with her team'. After convincing them that she would be too late if she stayed any longer, Sakura had managed to leave and was now walking down the street towards Ichiraku's. She was low on chakra and tired from a long day of work, but at least she would get to eat out with her team. Sakura soon saw the ramen stand not far from her and smiled at the prospect of a warm meal. Suddenly, she jolted upwards in surprise at something she heard. She shook her head and walked closer as she tried to listen harder. _It couldn't be…_

"Be quiet, idiot." A barely audible voice sounded from inside the ramen stand. "If you yell like that you will alert the whole village."

"Ahh, but I'm too eager, dattebayo!" the voice spoke again but now in a lower tone, one that Sakura knew too well despite not having heard it in such a long time.

Sakura's eyes widened and she felt a smile form on her lips and then jogged towards the ramen stand. When she was right in front of it, she sharply turned to the side making dust flow around her feet and then pushed the curtain sideways. Inside, on a corner of the ramen stand, were Kakashi, Sasuke and two people she hadn't seen in over two months; Naruto and Jiraiya.

"Naruto!" Sakura beamed widely and jumped at Naruto just as he turned around to face her. His arms circled around her back and he held her tight against him.

"Sakura-chan! Happy birthday!" Naruto patted her pack and then moved back.

"Hey, Sakura." Jiraiya put his hand on her head in a kind gesture and Sakura suddenly felt five again. "Congratulations."

"Yo! You're growing so fast, Sakura-chan." Kakashi said next to Jiraiya and his lone eye smiled at her, but Sakura heard the slight humorous tone in his voice when he treated her like a small child.

Sakura smiled nonetheless and then she turned to look at Sasuke, who was looking at her. There was an amused glint in his eyes and a small smirk on his lips. Sakura gasped in realization.

"You knew it was my birthday!"

"You ask if he _knew_? He organized this whole get-together a week in advance!" Naruto snorted and moved to elbow Sasuke on the side. "He's not the ice-cube that we first met, huh?"

"Shut up, dobe. You wanted to come just as much." Sasuke pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but _you_ were the one who first suggested it in a letter. And-"

"What _ever_. Let's just eat for now!" Sakura took a hold of both their wrists and pulled them towards the bar, a toothy grin on her face.

Sakura sat down in the middle, with Naruto and then Sasuke to her right. To her left were Kakashi and Jiraiya. Everyone ordered their food and stared eating with a big smile. Sakura felt incredibly happy. Not only was Naruto there for her birthday, which was incredible on its own, but _Sasuke_ had actually organized a birthday for her. It wasn't much, but he had thought about it a whole week in advance and told Naruto to be in the village for dinner. He had even faked ignorance about her birthday so that she wouldn't suspect anything. The fact the he had actually planned something for her, to make her happy, was more than she could've wished for on her birthday.

Sakura suddenly noticed that, while Sasuke and Naruto were ranting about whatever, the two older shinobi on her other side were awfully quiet. Sakura threw a curios glance at them and noticed the serious atmosphere surrounding them. She tilted her head and glanced at Jiraiya, deciding to ask anything in order to get a better grasp of what was going on.

"How long will you be staying?"

"We're leaving tomorrow." Jiraiya announced.

"Really? So soon?" Sakura frowned. "Are you at least going to be here for the Hokage's speech?"

"Ah. Naruto wants to attend." Jiraiya nodded, but there was a troubled look on his eye at the mention of it. As if he didn't want to be there but had agreed to only because of the blonde Jinchuriki's insistence. "But we're leaving as soon as it ends."

There was an air of authority around Jiraiya that screamed _don't ask anymore_ , so Sakura didn't. Her eyes focused on Kakashi, who was right next to her. He seemed to know why Jiraiya was unsettled, because he had a knowing look on his eye as he stared at his ramen. Sakura cursed her fourteen year old body and chunin status, because it was obviously keeping her away from the important subjects that high-ranked jonin and above knew about.

"So, Sakura-chan." Kakashi said and scratched his chin. "Fourteen, huh?"

"What about it?"

"That was just about the time when I bought my first Icha-Icha." Kakashi said and pulled a wrapped object out of nowhere. "Here you go."

Sakura took the gift – which was obviously a book – and looked at Kakashi with clear amusement. She ripped the deep red covering off and smirked at the book she had in her hands; Icha-Icha Paradise.

"Sakura-chan, what is-" Naruto stopped abruptly and stared with wide eyes at the book in Sakura's hands. He snorted and then pointed at their sensei. "Ha! You think she doesn't know that stuff already? You're too late, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Naruto!" Sakura slapped him on the back of his head and felt a deep blush on her cheeks, since everyone at the ramen stand was now looking at her. " _Why_ on earth would I know about such things?"

"Why would Kakashi give you something like that?" Sasuke asked after leaning forwards to get a good look at it.

"Ah, now she's old enough to start the journey of an adult's pleasures." The jonin nodded at Sakura and then turned to look at Sasuke. "Don't worry, you're getting a copy in a couple months too."

" _Ugh._ " Sasuke groaned and looked the other way, probably not wanting to be seen associated with Kakashi anymore.

" _Wait_!" Naruto called in dismay. "What about me?!"

Needless to say, the whole team went back to its usual dynamics that evening. More specifically, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto did. Kakashi seemed tense, not as much as Jiraiya did, but tense enough to Sakura who had known him for a long time. Neither of them seemed their usual self, since they ate quietly and barely spoke to each other.

Sakura was certain that they were both worried about the speech that the Hokage was to give the next day. She managed to keep her thoughts at bay until they all left the ramen stand, so that she could enjoy the company of both her team mates while she could. As she walked home, her mind started going through the last couple months, trying to find an explanation. Would the Hokage give them terrible news? Would an attack happen while he was at it? Maybe it had something to do with the person who had stolen Orochimaru's medical report? The Akatsuki maybe?

When Sakura finally laid down in her bed, her gut was clenched with a terrible notion. The nagging feeling had gotten stronger and stronger and she now felt as if she would start shaking from anticipation anytime. Sakura had grown to trust her instincts as years passed by, and they were _screaming_ at her that something important that she didn't expect was going to happen tomorrow. That everything she'd been planning and trusting on would go downhill. That nothing would be as easy from now on.

She could only hope that, this time around, her instincts would be mistaken.

 **-x-**

The place where the announcement would be held brought distressing memories back to Sakura. It was the same place where her shishou's funeral had been held at and _the_ place that she'd been avoiding like the plague ever since. She had somehow managed to get over her mentor's death quite well, especially considering that there was no one she could talk to. Her heart had finally accepted that her shishou's death had happened to allow changes – good changes – to happen in Konoha. Tsunade's death would not only be in Sakura's heart from now on, but also in the future that the Leaf Village built for its people.

Sakura had arrived just a bit before the ceremony was to begin and looked around to take in her surroundings. The whole place was filled with people, both civilians and shinobi. Sakura would bet that every living soul in the village was there, aside from shinobi on guard duty and some ANBU. Sakura walked around for a bit and soon saw the rest of the shinobi of her generation.

However, Sakura was feeling on edge, so she decided to avoid anyone until she figured out what was going to happen. She didn't want anyone she knew to be suspicious if she reacted in an unusual way. She had also convinced her parents that she had to watch the announcement with her team, so that she could be alone. Sakura walked around for another bit until she finally found a good spot that was secluded enough, but also allowed her a good look at what was going on in the crowd.

Sakura stayed there for the remaining ten minutes, trying to be unnoticed by some people that knew her and passed by close to her. Thankfully, no one noticed and she was alone by the time the Hokage walked to the ceremonial platform. There was a grave way in the way that he walked and moved, which only managed to increase Sakura's worries. Hiruzen started speaking slowly, patiently.

"Villagers of Konoha. I want to start by thanking everyone for attending today, since it shall be an important day in the history of our village.

As many of you know, I have served as Hokage for many decades. I have seen this country be built back from the ashes and the destruction that came from the attack of the Kyuubi. I have seen the internal disputes within clans when it came to political and economic power. I have seen Konoha's struggles to maintain good relations with the other nations and shinobi villages. I have seen balance and prosperity bloom in our beloved village and how our citizens' lives have continuously improved over time.

I strongly believe that it is not the leader's work that makes a country. It's not the leader's ideas or the leader's strength that makes a country. I am confident that the essence of a country comes from its people. No matter what kind of leader there is, it's the essence of the people which creates a nation. The leader is not meant to impose above everyone else, but rather meant to embody the nation's will. This country's will – the Will of Fire – is the one thing that has built this nation. It's the spirit that guides our development.

During my time as Hokage, I have given all I have to make this village a better place for those who live in it. I have tried to be a just leader and to protect this country to the best of my ability. I have tried to be what you've expected me to be. I like to believe that I have lived up to your expectations and embodied the Will of Fire. I have served this village for over three decades."

Sakura felt her eyebrows rise a bit at his words. _He wouldn't possibly be talking about…_

"Despite all of that, I have come to realize that I am not who I used to be. During the Sound Invasion, Orochimaru would've defeated me if it weren't for Tsunade's interference. I could have failed to protect this country and to guide it through the crisis. The fact that my own student could've taken me down has been in my mind for months. I have been continuously assessing my own ability as a shinobi and have come to the conclusion that, even though I believe I am capable of leading, I am not capable of protecting anymore."

By now Sakura's eyes were wide. She was now certain why this was such an important event; Hiruzen was about to step out of office.

"Owing to this, I have decided that I am not fit to be Hokage anymore, because the title requires someone that's able to lead and protect. Therefore, I officially announce my resignation as Hokage."

A faint chattering started sounding all around the place – people were obviously taken by surprise and were chatting amongst themselves. Sakura felt no different; she had never expected Sarutobi to resign. He was not the same as fifteen or twenty years ago, but he was _still_ one of the strongest shinobi in the village. And he was most certainly the best option when it came to leading. Sakura couldn't help but feel that something didn't add up. Her frown was now pronounced on her face and she was biting her lip nervously.

Hiruzen slowly raised his hand in an attempt to get everyone's attention, and the crowd went quiet. "The future of Konoha still interests me deeply so I will now become a part of the council of the village. I will serve as an experienced former leader and advise the next Hokage with responsibility and commitment.

I have given the subject of my successor a lot of thought. I decided that the three main attributes to choose the next leader would be as follows. First, deep commitment to the Village and its people. Second, vast experience when it comes to leading organizations _and_ shinobi teams. Third, strength that surpasses that of most shinobi in the village."

Sakura frowned; it was a truly small detail that only some might've noticed, but Sakura couldn't help but think that Hiruzen wouldn't have made such a mistake. The attributes that he'd listed were not in line with what he'd said before. If he were to be picking a leader that responded to his whole speech, the most important trait would've been the ability to embody the Will of Fire – the people's will. Why would he not mention that amongst the traits, when he had just implied that it was the most important thing for the Hokage to possess?

"The person who immediately came to my mind is not only someone who fulfills the three traits I mentioned. He also has been someone that I've known for a long time and who has been involved in the village's politics for decades. He has vast battle experience; he even fought in the First Shinobi War. He also founded an important branch of ANBU that was vital to the village's security at the time."

Sakura's body stiffened completely and she tried to control the shaking that was threatening to take control of her. She fought the urge to cover her face in shock and tried to keep her expression as straight as she could. If _he_ were to become Hokage then everything would change. If he were to become Hokage, Sasuke would be in danger. Damn, _she_ would be in danger for knowing so many dirty secrets about him. _No way, no, no, no. This has to be some sort of nightmare, some sort of lie._

"Apart from that, he's been a part of the village's council for a long time, which gives him the necessary experience to lead. If some of you are informed enough, you might already know or suspect who I'm talking about. I'm honored to present to you the Fifth Hokage; Danzo Shimura."

Sakura felt as if a bucket of boiling water had been thrown at her. Sakura's shoulders were stiff and she was clenching her hands together to keep them from shaking. She could barely feel her surroundings or the innocent citizens who were applauding and cheering on their new leader.  
Her eyes were trained on the half bandaged figure that was walking towards Sarutobi. Danzo was serious and polite... but Sakura could see the way his eyes shone with well hidden pretension. She knew how much he'd tried to take the Hokage's seat, how much he craved for power.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Danzo said as Hiruzen moved and he took his place in front of the microphone. "When I start my duties as Hokage tomorrow, it will be the beginning of my path as your leader and authority. It's good to see that many of you are cheering for me as I start this journey. I'll let you know that, shortly, that support _will_ have spread amongst everyone here present. I'll show you all how this village will change and prosper under my lead.

I want to thank the Hokage for trusting me as his successor and for doing what's best for the village. I promise to you all, that I will be the Hokage that this village _needs_. I will lead and protect it with my life and I will make sure that Konoha becomes the greatest shinobi village amongst all nations."

Sakura watched as Danzo turned around and walked down the platform with a huge knot in her lower belly. She didn't need much imagination to understand the hidden meaning in Danzo's words; the village will _change_ and prosper under his lead, the support for him _will_ have spread amongst everyone soon, he will be what this village _needs_. Sakura's thoughts might've sounded delirious to someone else. She might've sound paranoid. But she wasn't.

Sakura knew damn well what kind of leader Danzo would be. She knew that he was borderline unethical when it came to control and authoritarianism. He didn't care about stripping people of their free will, of their right to choose, of their freedom of speech. He _did_ care about the village, but in a twisted way in which the only thing that mattered was how powerful it became. People's happiness was not something that truly concerned him, and Sakura would even bet that he believed happiness to be counterproductive to power. In short, he was a fascist and a tyrant.

All the choices that she'd made came crushing down on her with the weight of a thousand mountains. How she hadn't decided to tell Hiruzen about her time travel before and asked for help against the Akatsuki. How she hadn't told Hiruzen about what she'd seen of Danzo in her past life. How she hadn't made a move on her own towards finishing her mission before – she'd been there for almost two years! How she hadn't made a move of her own against _Danzo_ before he was appointed at the Fifth Hokage.

If there was one thing that Sakura was glad she had done, it was _not_ telling Sasuke her secret. If he'd known about Danzo and he became Hokage… she didn't even want to think about what he would've done. He might've deserted the village, he might've gone and killed the newly appointed Hokage, he might've become the village's enemy. No matter what option she considered, it was a terrible one.

Sakura knew that it was not that easy though. Sasuke was smart and, now that he was not blinded by revenge and fury, he might be able to get to the truth on his own as he matured. Apart from that, what would Danzo do with Sasuke now? Would he kill him? Would he allow him to live? What were the chances of Danzo willingly giving up Naruto to the Akatsuki? How far would he go to make Konoha strong and powerful? Would he make an alliance with the enemy? Considering his twisted ways, there was a great chance that he would do something along those lines. If that was the case, could Sakura even consider her own village as support or backup when it came to Obito and the Akatsuki?

Sakura tightly closed her eyes as she felt her body start shaking with distress, the beginning of a panic attack creeping up on her. She confusedly looked up and watched her surroundings for a moment. Everyone was slowly leaving and talking animatedly and she mindlessly walked with them, trying hard to keep her panic from coming forth with full force in plain daylight. Sakura's eyes came upon a small deserted alley to her right and dashed inside.

Her feet were failing her as her legs shook uncontrollably now. Her left forearm was flushed against the wall in an attempt to keep a standing position. Her head was a mess and she felt dizzy and disoriented. Despite all that, she didn't miss the presence that entered the alley right behind her, but she didn't have the mind to pinpoint if it was a known presence or not. Sakura was not going to take a chance in being seen like this, because what explanation could she even give? She was about to take another shaky step away from it, but the presence flash-stepped – meaning that it was a shinobi – to her side in an instant and grabbed her hand with an iron hold.

 **A/N: OK, so this has to be the longest chapter I've ever written (10 k in case you didn't notice). That's why it kinda took a bit longer for me to update.**

 **Anyways. Wow, right? I bet you didn't expect that. Or did you? I did send some hints, but I like to think that they weren't too obvious.**

 **What do you think of the major plot twist – Danzo becoming Hokage? There are like a thousand consequences that could develop from this one change. PLEASE tell me your thoughts on that one!**

 **Also, what about the small SasuSaku moments I put in? What do you think about how their relationship is evolving?**

 **As always, I love you reviews. They always encourage me to write sooner.**

 **AND, before I forget – because I did forget on the last chapter, damn – I want to thank my beta-reader MonochromeAce for always helping me out with my foreign-language mistakes.**


	24. Possible Ally

**CHAPTER 24**

Through the years, Sakura had become a lot of things. She was smart, skilled, and fast – overall she thought herself a strong kunoichi when it came to battle. She was a fairly good actress and usually didn't have trouble masking her thoughts. However, the control she had on her _own_ emotions were no more than regular – which was still an improvement because it had been awful when she was younger.

Seeing Danzo be announced as the Fifth Hokage right on the spot where Tsunade's funeral had been held had been too much for her. She'd already been a bit shaken by simply standing at that spot and her whole self-control had gone out the window the moment Danzo walked onto the stage. Sakura had been so terrified, so worried, so nervous, that she didn't think that she could get a grip on herself.

She had honestly been worried that someone she knew would see here in that state as she walked amongst the crowd. The moment she'd seen the alley, she'd taken the shot and entered immediately. Sakura thought that she would just sit there until her thoughts were in place and then go home to figure out what to do from now on. However, she hadn't expected to be followed into the alley, much less be held in place by a strong hand.

Sakura was truly in a difficult predicament. She couldn't move away or escape her captor, because their hand was holding her own in an incredibly tight grip – the person must've been at least jonin, maybe even ANBU. Sakura couldn't turn around and face them just like that and pretend like nothing happened. For one, her whole face was probably a mess with the huge frown, the glassy eyes and the labored breathing. If she did turn around, they would immediately now that something had happened during the Hokage announcement. Through her clouded mind, Sakura failed to realize that her _whole_ body was now shaking and that her steps had been too clumsy for a healthy person.

Sakura was honestly waiting for a miracle as seconds passed by and the hand kept its firm grip on her. Sakura stared up ahead, trying to find something – anything – to make the person lose interest in her. Because if she didn't, would she have to fight her way out of this? What would happen if she attacked an ANBU? What-

"Sakura." A deep voice resounded from the person behind her. A voice she knew too well.

She almost fell as relief washed over her and she sharply turned around to see Kakashi standing there. His lone eye was creased in worry and a frown could be seen from under the mask that covered his face. Kakashi slowly weakened his hold on her wrist, but he didn't completely let go – clearly not trusting her to stay in place. Sakura took a step back and supported her body on the brick wall of the alley as she tried to regain her breath and allowed the shaking to subside.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Kakashi said stressing the word wrong, which proved that her behavior had been truly out of the ordinary.

"I-nothing." Sakura forced a smile, but it came as a grimace. "I'm fine. Just needed to step away from the crowd, that's all."

"You're most definitely not fine. Sakura, if I need to I will bring someone else to take a look at you." Kakashi said sternly.

"No!" Sakura blurted with almost desperation and then covered her mouth with her hand. If she'd been suspicious before, she was even more suspicious now. She felt her body start shaking once again, her panic once again taking over her.

"I'm going to go find a medic. Stay here." Kakashi was about to move away when Sakura took a hold of his arm, not allowing him to leave. He stopped and took a hold of both her arms firmly. "Sakura, take a _look_ at yourself. Why aren't you allowing me to go find help?"

"Please – just." Sakura breathed in deeply and then exhaled. "Wait here for a moment."

Kakashi reluctantly nodded and stood in front of Sakura as she tried to gather herself. It did take her quite some time, since she was now stuck between trying to calm down and worrying about what she would tell Kakashi. She finally opted for the former and was able to calm herself. Her body, now emptied of the adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins, relaxed and she allowed herself to sit on the concrete floor beneath her. Kakashi mirrored her actions and kneeled down in front of her. The silence stretched for another couple seconds and Sakura felt her mind start working once again. How the _hell_ was she supposed to explain this to Kakashi and convince him not to have a psychiatrist take a look at her?

"Now, care to explain?" he asked slowly.

"It's something personal, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura tried waved it off. "I just don't want anyone to find out about it."

"Bullshit." Kakashi said with such a calm voice, that Sakura knew he wouldn't buy any of her lies. "I _saw_ you there. During the announcement. I _know_ that your reaction has something to do with that."

"I-" Sakura fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. Kakashi wouldn't believe her anymore is she dared deny that fact. "You're right. It does."

"I can't even start to imagine why someone like you would be so affected by this." Kakashi frowned.

Sakura was _aware_ of that. She wasn't supposed to have much understanding of village politics, of Danzo's history or anything like that. She was just a young kunoichi that had just been promoted to chunin a couple months ago. She wasn't supposed to have a _reason_ to be upset, but she did. Because she knew just how horrible Danzo would be as a Hokage, how much damage he could do to their beloved village. Because she knew that Sasuke was now in danger and that, with the power he now had, Danzo could try to finish off what he'd started. Because, in Danzo's eyes, Sakura would be considered a traitor for keeping her time travel a secret. She would become a threat to him due to all the information that she had about him.

Because everything now had taken a turn for the worse. It would be so much more difficult to keep Sasuke safe _and_ within the village. Because she feared that she wouldn't be able to do anything to achieve her self-imposed mission. Sakura was feeling the weight of her responsibility like a huge load that had become too much for her to bear. Not like this. Not with Danzo as Hokage.

Sakura stole a glimpse at her teacher, someone she'd known for eight years now. Someone she had trusted with her life for such a long time. Someone she was certain valued his team-mates and friends above any twisted sense of justice. Sakura felt her heart leap at the possibility. Could she even _do_ it? Would he be safe? Would _she_ be safe? If she told Kakashi the truth – _everything_ – he would definitely believe her, right? She had the information to make sure that he did. He would most likely take her side on things – he was a fair person and he had always looked up to benevolent leadership.

What if she didn't have to do things on her own now? What if she could rely on someone else? Now that there was a looming threat inside the village, Sakura was in need of a true ally. Kakashi was strong, he was a jonin and an ex-ANBU. He was smart and he was dedicated to the village. And last but not least, he was someone that she trusted. If there was anyone that she could safely tell the truth to in this timeline, it was him.

Apart from all of that, Sakura couldn't honestly think of a reasonable excuse for her weird behavior. So, she took a deep breath to clear her thoughts for a moment and then looked up at her teacher, her eyes shining with resolve.

"Kakashi, there's a really good reason for that." Sakura started and felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted of her shoulders. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow at the lack of 'sensei'. "I'm-"

"Sakura-chaaaan!" Naruto's voice broke the moment and Sakura jumped in surprise.

She almost choked on her unfinished words and turned her head sharply to see Naruto standing at the entrance of the alley with Hinata right behind him. He was waving at her vigorously but the stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes landed on Kakashi – who was kneeling in front of her as her back was against the wall, in the shadows of an alley. Naruto jumped back in shock and then stomped into the alley with a twitching eyebrow. Sakura just knew what would come out of his mouth.

"HAAAAA!?" Naruto's face was in utter disbelief and he pointed at Kakashi accusingly as soon as he was next to them. "Kakashi-sensei, are you trying to rape Sakura-chan?!"

" _Ugh._ " Kakashi groaned and sighed in annoyance. He stole one last look as Sakura, which she clearly read. _We'll finish this later._

"Naruto, you baka! We were just talking!" Sakura complained and punched him on the arm. However she was actually quite grateful. She was about to spill her secret to Kakashi – which she still thought wasn't such a bad idea – but she wanted to think it over. Sakura's eyes faintly caught a blushing Hinata in the back, who now looked less flustered than she would've usually been. She was probably getting used to Naruto's antics.

"It still seems pretty weird. _Why_ would you be talking inside an alley? Could it be… gossip?" Naruto's eyebrows shot up.

"I'm taking my leave. Bye." Kakashi just poofed out of existence and Sakura cursed him for leaving her alone.

"Sakura-chan, tell me!" Naruto shook her shoulder vigorously and Sakura groaned once again.

"It's not _gossip_ , Naruto." She stood up and started walking back to the street. She passed Hinata and threw a smile at her. "Hey, Hinata."

"H-Hi." The Hyuuga girl sheepishly smiled.

"Wait, Sakura-chan." Naruto immediately caught up to her. "If it's not gossip, what is it?"

"I'll – eh – go home now too." Hinata waved and turned around to leave.

"Bye, Hinata-chan! I'll see you at the gates before I leave!" Naruto waved back and then turned to look at Sakura once again, expectation clear in his eyes.

"Naruto, it's nothing, really. Just… will you please drop it for now?" Sakura sighed and Naruto seemed to _finally_ get a clue and stopped bugging her. He could really be a pain in the ass sometimes, especially when it came to understanding personal boundaries. "Are you leaving soon?"

"Yeah. Jiraiya's picking me up in fifteen minutes. I still have to pack some stuff though."

"Can I come with you? You're leaving for who knows how long now." Sakura silently – and slightly guiltily – _hoped_ that he wouldn't come anywhere near Konoha with Danzo as Hokage, at least not until he was strong enough to stand his ground.

Naruto eagerly accepted and they walked towards his house. Sakura tried to make the most out of the little time she still had with her blonde friend, but she still felt on edge due to the announcement. Naruto's presence did usually help her forget about her worries a bit, but it definitely wasn't enough to make her forget about _Danzo._ Sakura's mind went back to all of the thoughts that were plaguing her as soon as Naruto entered his room to pack up.

Sakura knew that everything would be more difficult now and not only because Danzo would be Hokage, which gave him a lot of manpower and authority on its own. He also was the unquestionable head of root ANBU, and that meant that he would have a silent army with unquestionable loyalty towards him. Maybe he would even start using ANBU root to spy on everyone. Sakura gasped and widened her eyes. What if there had been ANBU root watching her exchange with Kakashi? She was now extremely grateful that Naruto had interrupted, because she hadn't even thought about the possibility of someone eavesdropping on them.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and spread out her chakra, trying to cover as much ground as possible – which was not much since she wasn't a sensor type. She managed to feel up to a ratio of a hundred meters around her. Sakura's body suddenly froze in shock.

 _What?! How is this even_ possible _? A coincidence?_

There were two incredibly strong presences coming their way. Not just that, Sakura recognized them too. One of them was definitely Itachi, so she assumed that the second was Kisame.

Sakura's mind started working at a hundred miles per hour. Why the hell were they in Konoha now? It _did_ make sense that Itachi would come to Konoha in order to send a message to Danzo, since he would do anything to protect Sasuke. However, why had they arrived so soon? They must've been aware that the next Hokage would be announced that day, and _who_ the next Hokage would be. How come they knew in advance? Who had told them? Was the Akatsuki working with Danzo?

She recovered from her shock when Naruto opened the door of his bedroom enthusiastically, a small bag thrown over his shoulder. Sakura widened her eyes and flash-stepped next to him, took a hold of his wrist and pulled him out of the apartment as quickly as she could. As she was closing the door to his apartment, she heard glass shattering from direction of the living room.

"What?" Naruto asked dumbfounded at Sakura's actions and taken aback by the sound of his window shattering.

"Just run, Naruto!" Sakura said pulling him across the hallway. Her heartbeat was crazed, her senses as sharp as ever. The Akatsuki were here to take Naruto away, and this time Jiraiya was not around. Naruto and herself would never be enough to stand against both Akatsuki members.

Suddenly, she was forced to stop sharply when the wall in front of her was destroyed. Itachi and Kisame appeared in the blink of an eye and were suddenly blocking their way. Sakura's abrupt stop made Naruto crash into her back. However, she didn't give it a second thought since her eyes were trained on the two people in front of her. She tightened her hold on Naruto's hand and took a step back. Naruto must've sensed that something serious was going on, because he remained quiet.

"Oh?" Kisame smirked amusedly. "The girl seems to know who we are."

"No matter. We'll do what we must." Itachi's low voice sounded clear in the hallway.

Sakura clenched her jaw and moved a bit in front of Naruto, forcing her mind to work as fast as possible. She couldn't defeat them like this and probably even with her seal it wouldn't be enough – not that she could use it now that Danzo was Hokage. There was only one way to deal with this. Sakura sent as much chakra to her legs as she could and turned around as she pulled Naruto with her. They sprinted towards the other end of the hallway, where a second staircase was located. Sakura's inhumane hold on Naruto must've hurt a bit, because he grimaced for a second as they dashed away from the enemy.

Sakura's speed must've been unexpected for such a young kunoichi, because she heard Kisame hum in surprise. Her feet moved at top speed towards the second staircase, she took a turn to run down with Naruto… but crashed into something and both teens were thrown back.

"What the hell?" the person groaned and Sakura looked up to see… Sasuke. He seemed pretty pissed due to the collision. "I don't even know why I came to say good-bye to – what's wrong?"

Sasuke seemed to notice Sakura's wide fearful eyes and her labored breathing. It took less than a second for The dots to connect in his head and he immediately figured that they must've been escaping from something. He frowned and started moving forward to look at what they'd been running from, but Sakura's hand shot out and gripped his shoulder in an iron grip.

"Let's just go." She pleaded with worried eyes as she kept him in place. She threw a glance towards the hallway to see that Itachi and Kisame were coming their way and would get there anytime. Her eyes returned to Sasuke and she squeezed his shoulder tighter. " _Please_."

Sasuke's frown deepened but he slowly nodded. Sakura pulled Naruto up from the floor in one swift move and pushed Sasuke back towards the staircase to run down the stairs. However, her plans were spoiled when a deep voice spoke from the hallway.

"Long time no see, foolish little brother."

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks and his whole body tensed. Sakura almost crashed into him, but managed to stop her movements in time. Naruto looked at Sasuke with wide eyes and then looked back into the hallway. Everybody new about the Uchiha massacre, so he immediately figured that this guy was Itachi Uchiha and finally realized just how bad the situation was. Sakura bit her lip as she watched Sasuke's body shake a bit. He sharply turned around with wide shocked eyes and strode past his two teammates and into the hallway. His eyes met Itachi's and Sakura heard him growl in rage as he fisted his hands.

" _Shit._ " She turned around to watch Naruto with a frown and spoke with a commanding voice. "Naruto, no matter _what_ ,you don't let any of them get a hold of you. _Do you understand_?"

As they both moved back into the hallway Naruto nodded in agreement, thankfully not questioning her. Sakura knew that there was no way that Sasuke would leave with Itachi there and they couldn't just leave him behind. However, they still had a chance at this if Jiraiya arrived soon to pick up Naruto; her guess was that there were a good five minutes before he arrived. Her eyes went back to Sasuke, who was looking straight ahead, so she couldn't see his expression.

"Huh? Did you just say _brother_?" Kisame's smirk grew even wider.

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled. "Itachi, I've been waiting for this day for too long. I _will_ avenge my clan today!"

Sasuke jerked his hand to the front and loaded his chidori, while Itachi simply stared at him with bored eyes. Sasuke finished and took off towards his older brother at full speed, the chidori casting a bright light on his right side. Itachi took a single step to the side, shifting his body and caught Sasuke's wrist swiftly. He redirected Sasuke's attack towards a wall, which exploded into tiny pieces.

Itachi pulled Sasuke upwards with one flick of his wrist and then elbowed him back down. Sasuke coughed blood as he was beaten by a rapid onslaught of attacks before landing on the floor harshly. Itachi was about to attack Sasuke again, but he noticed two dozen Narutos running his way. Both Akatsuki took a defensive position as Naruto's clones came upon them and started punching and kicking at Kisame. Kisame laughed loudly and easily made each and every clone of Naruto's poof into thin air. Naruto scowled and kept sending clones at the shark Akatsuki, trying to listen to Sakura's request of not getting caught but starting to lose his patience.

Sakura was hidden amongst the sea of clones and she neared Itachi with a racing heart. Her chakra was running through her body at full capacity – something she hadn't felt since her past life – and it enhanced her speed to a level she hadn't shown before. When Sakura was in front of Itachi, she spun in the air and materialized chakra scalpels onto her fingers. Of course, Itachi's sharingan caught her intentions and he swiftly moved out of the way as she tried to attack him again and again. He managed to get around her as she tried to cut his lower abdomen and came up from behind her, catching her arms in a strong hold.

Sakura hissed and cursed inwardly, but gathered more chakra into her hands and used some of her monstrous strength to lift him up. He probably wasn't expecting that, since he was almost twice as heavy as she was, but managed to turn around just before she threw him into a wall. He kicked her in the back and moved just in time to dodge the kunai Sasuke had aimed at his lungs. The young Uchiha landed right next to Sakura and cursed, his eyes trained on his brother. Sakura looked at him from her peripheral vision and noticed that he didn't seem to be rejecting her assistance… for now.

"AAAAAGHHH!" Sasuke didn't seem to be thinking clearly – as expected – and he simply launched himself at the Akatsuki with his kunai in hand.

The older Uchiha simply caught Sasuke's wrist and twisted his arm, forcing him to release the weapon. Before he had a chance to attack him again, Sakura aimed a kick at his stomach, but his sharingan saw her attack in time and he caught her leg. Sasuke aimed a punch at Itachi's arm and the Akatsuki released Sakura. Itachi punched Sasuke square on the jaw and he was sent backwards a couple meters. Sakura took a hold of the older Uchiha's wrist and slammed him into the wall with chakra, destroying yet the building even further.

However, Itachi didn't seem too fazed by the impact and moved his hands at a faster speed than before. He caught Sakura's wrist in a strong grip, to which she yelped in pain and was forced to release her hold on him. It gave him the opportunity to turn them around and push her into what remained of the wall. Sakura intently looked at Itachi's chest – avoiding his eyes at all costs – and tried to kick him in his lower stomach. Itachi deflected her attempts and finally moved his hand up to grab her jaw in a tight hold keeping her in place against the wall. However, before she was forced to close her eyes to avoid meeting his gaze, Sasuke was on them once again. Itachi easily grabbed Sasuke by his shirt before he could do anything and slammed him up next to Sakura.

"You seem quite frustrated." He spoke up at Sasuke, and moved his hand to strangle him. "Of course you are. You're _weak._ "

Sakura felt Sasuke shake in either anger or fear next to her and she cursed due to the danger that came with using her seal. Her mind was overwhelmed by the amount of considerations that she had to take when fighting an Akatsuki member while having to worry about Danzo finding out about her secret. Sakura wondered if she should use her monstrous strength again or simply stay there to delay the fight until Jiraiya came.

"Do you know why you lack strength?" Itachi smirked evilly and leaned forward to speak into Sasuke's ear. "It's because you lack _hatred_."

Honestly, Itachi's acting skills were so good that she almost believed him to be evil even though she knew otherwise. However, Sasuke didn't know this and Sakura would _not_ allow Itachi to make him retreat into his shell of isolation once again. Sakura squinted an eye open and looked at Sasuke, who was next to her. She grasped onto Itachi's hand – which was still holding her jaw in place – when she noticed Sasuke's eyes opening slightly. He was about to make eye contact with his older brother when Sakura's other hand shot upwards and covered Sasuke's eyes.

" _Don't_ look into his eyes, Sasuke." Sakura groaned and averted her eyes as soon as she was sure he was fine.

Sakura felt Itachi's eyes on her as he observed her intently, clearly curious about how a young kunoichi like her knew of his ability. He moved his head away from Sasuke and closer to Sakura, his hand tightening his hold on her jaw. Sakura took a deep breath and considered her options.

Itachi was now in front of her. She couldn't release her seal and she couldn't use ninjutsu because it would probably kill a civilian since they were in an apartment building. Thankfully, since the Akatsuki wanted to simply get Naruto without much interference, they probably would avoid using ninjutsu as well. Her _only_ real option was to stretch out her encounter with Itachi as much as possible.

"You don't really mean those words, do you?" Sakura spoke with some difficulty due to Itachi's hold on her jaw. She faintly noticed that Naruto stopped sending clones at Kisame and that now everyone's attention was on her. "Hatred is not what makes people strong. Protecting the ones you love is the source of true strength."

Sasuke's hand shot to hers and he gripped her hand in a tight hold, trying to tell her to shut up and stop provoking his brother. It must've taken some effort on his part, because Itachi was crushing his throat with great force and she guessed that he would pass out anytime. However, Sakura ignored him and focused her attention on the older Uchiha in front of her instead. He leaned closer to her and moved her upwards a bit more, so that her head was now leveled with his own.

"Though this girl is clearly _stronger_ than you, she's _wrong_." He said, still speaking to Sasuke but staring at Sakura. "I am a living example of that truth."

Sakura had kept her eyes trained on Itachi's chest, but she then closed her eyes and allowed her chakra to sense her surroundings. She immediately pinpointed Jiraiya's strong presence entering the first floor of the building. Sakura opened her eyes knowing that the fight would soon be over. Surprisingly, that didn't make her feel any better. Itachi was here, in front of her, and he was a central piece of the whole puzzle that was her mission. She was _so_ not going to let him get away just like that. She had one more card up her sleeve; a strong genjutsu that she'd been developing for a long time for when she came face to face with Obito. It would drain her of most of her remaining chakra and Itachi would probably be able to break out of it if he wanted to, but Jiraiya's nearing presence somehow pushed her to take the chance.

"You're right." Sakura smiled softly through Itachi's hold, her knowing eyes still on his chest. "You _are_ a living example of that truth."

Sakura felt Itachi almost imperceptibly jump at her implication and his guard lower just a bit. She immediately gathered her chakra to her hand and touched the side of Itachi's face in one quick move. Her chakra entered his body in one second and quickly started showing him the images that she casted on him. _Sasuke getting the cursed seal, Sasuke going away with Orochimaru, older Sasuke's face twisted in mindless rage-_

Itachi broke through her genjutsu in the blink of an eye – she had honestly wished he would take the bait and keep on watching - and threw Sasuke away. She inwardly cursed when his other arm connected squarely with her jaw – which had already been strained by his strong hold – and she felt it break under the pressure. Her body was thrown to the side and she landed heavily on the floor, immediately rolling over onto her side facing Itachi. He was staring at her with wide eyes, and she wondered if it was due to anger or shock.

"Sakura!" she heard Sasuke's strained scream as he gasped for air. Naruto's voice spoke too from behind him, but she barely noticed due to the loud drumming in her chest.

Through widened eyes, she watched Itachi slowly take a couple steps towards her. However, before he could make it to where she lay, Sasuke flash-stepped in front of her. Sakura saw that Naruto was running towards her too, but Kisame moved in front of him to stop his attempt. Her heart jumped when she saw Jiraiya entering the hallway and taking action immediately.

She allowed her head to rest on the floor and then assessed her reserves. She had very little chakra left, but the fracture of her jaw would take a really long time to fully heal if she did _nothing_ now. So, even though she would faint immediately after, Sakura gathered whatever chakra was left in her and put her glowing hand to her face.

Sakura's head was throbbing due to exhaustion and she started seeing black dots. However, before her mind slipped to unconsciousness, she was certain that she was seeing the most bizarre thing ever. The building that had been made of walls, floor, and ceiling… suddenly looked like the insides of an animal. She frowned at the unlikeness of that and wondered if she was having a hallucination. As darkness engulfed her, she heard the voices of her team-mates surround her.

 **-x-**

Sakura felt the heaviness of her eyelids with a stronger force than usual. However, it wasn't the first time that it happened to her and she knew what it meant; she'd passed out from chakra depletion. Her mind slowly became more conscious and she suddenly remembered the previous events.

Her whole body tensed and she opened her eyes sharply as she moved to sit up. She looked around to see that she was in a hospital room, which meant that probably not much havoc had been created while she was unconscious. There was no sign of Naruto or Jiraiya, but Sasuke was leaning forward in a chair on the other side of the room, his elbows resting on his knees. Sakura smiled and was about to greet him when she noticed his pointed glare. She gulped and looked down at her hands.

"Are you all right?" he asked calmly from behind his folded hands, but Sakura could hear the barely contained anger in his voice.

"I'm fine. I fixed my jaw back there, so I only have to recover from chakra depletion." Sakura smiled nervously. A silence stretched for another moment and then she heard Sasuke hiss in annoyance.

"How much of an _idiot_ are you?" Sasuke said in a low voice and stood up, taking long strides towards her bed. He pointed at her accusingly and raised his voice a bit. "What on earth were you thinking when you started provoking _him_ , huh?"

"I'm sorry." Sakura frowned, not knowing what to say without blowing her cover.

"You do know that he could've killed you on the spot, right? You were _lucky_ that he only broke your jaw instead of your neck, because he certainly could've done that."

"Well… I didn't want him to attack you, so I-"

"You didn't have to recklessly put your life in danger while stepping into _my_ business." He said with a frown. Sakura's eyes widened, then narrowed at his hypocrisy and she finally leaned forwards.

"So, somehow it's unreasonable for me to risk my life to help you out, but it's completely reasonable for you to simply jump into a fight against two S-ranked criminals." Sakura snorted.

"He and I have unfinished business. You _do_ know that."

"Not good enough." Sakura lifted her chin in a defying manner.

"Not good enough? He _massacred_ my people, Sakura." Sasuke growled. "Did you expect me to just see him there and then fucking _leave_?"

"I know that! But I did expect you to think before mindlessly acting, Sasuke." Sakura frowned. "You could've died if Naruto and I hadn't interfered." _Not that Itachi would've allowed that to happen anyways._

"Whatever!" Sasuke sighed in exasperation. "I didn't want to talk about my actions. _You_ were the one who did stupid things while fighting them."

"You can't just lash out at me because I was trying to buy time, when you impulsively attacked two members of the Akatsuki on your own."

"Trying to buy time?"

"Yeah. I knew Jiraiya was going to arrive soon to pick up Naruto."

"Oh." Sasuke averted his eyes, sighed and sat down on the bed right next to Sakura's right hand. However, he didn't meet her eyes for another minute or so, his gaze firmly trained on the ground beneath his feet.

Sakura wondered if he was upset that she had interfered in his fight. Or if he was angry about the fact that she questioned his thinking when attacking Itachi. She didn't want him to walk away from her. She didn't want him to shut people out again, not when Danzo was going to be Hokage now. She looked at him tentatively.

"Are you angry?" Sakura said and her voice was so small that she cursed herself for allowing her uncertainty to show.

Sasuke looked up to the window on the opposite wall after she spoke and then turned to observe her face. There was a frown in place, but it seemed completely different from the one he had displayed while they argued. It somehow seemed… softer and less angry. It actually seemed troubled. Was he wondering why she sounded afraid?

"No. It's just that I already lost my family to him." he said, and his frown disappeared. His eyes looked at her intently for another moment and Sakura was reminded of his lingering gaze at the training ground the day before. He seemed to be trying to find an answer in her emerald orbs, since his eyes were unguarded, curious. "I was just…"

"Worried." Sakura said when she realized that Sasuke probably couldn't find the words to express his feelings. Or maybe it was simply that he was still uncomfortable when it came to expressing his emotions.

Sasuke looked away from her and at the floor once again, but nonetheless he nodded once and admitted in a soft voice. "Worried."

Sakura smiled at the fact that Sasuke had actually recognized being worried for her. She slightly moved her hand so that her fingers brushed his own. Sasuke's eyebrows shot up and his eyes were soon observing her thoroughly.

"I was worried too." Sakura spoke carefully, a bit afraid that she'd push her luck to far this time. "That's why I couldn't leave you to fight on your own. That's why I tried to distract him."

Sakura had honestly expected Sasuke to do something when she spoke, but he didn't. He didn't say anything else, he didn't look away, he didn't stand up to leave, and he didn't move his hand away from hers. All he did was look at her with unnervingly blank eyes and stayed as still as a rock. His hand was radiating such warmth into her own, that Sakura wondered if he would agree to stay like that until she went back to sleep. However, she soon realized where her thoughts were going and cleared her mind. As the seconds passed by, Sakura felt a lump form on her throat and she gulped nervously, but tried to keep a straight face despite of it. _Please don't let him suspect how I feel, please don't let him see through me._

"I know." Sasuke finally said.

His voice was so calm, so collected, that Sakura wondered if he'd been thinking about something else entirely during his silence. He began to move his hand away from Sakura's hold, but squeezed her hand for a second before finally pulling away. Of course Sasuke would feel a bit anxious about sustained physical contact and move away in the end. But he did show her that he wasn't upset about it with that small gesture, and Sakura felt a small smile tug at her lips.

"So, where is Naruto?" Sakura asked, trying to change the subject and avoid an unnecessary awkward moment.

"He left a couple hours ago." Sasuke answered truthfully, but there was an apologetic air around him.

"What?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"Naruto wanted to stay – he bickered like a child because of it. However, Jiraiya was adamant in leaving immediately." Sasuke said.

"Oh." Sakura's eyes darted downwards. Of course Naruto would have to leave as soon as possible. Who knows what Danzo would do with the Kyuubi's Jinchuricki when he became Hokage the next day? Nonetheless, it didn't help Sakura feel any less disappointed about not being able to say good-bye properly. If only she hadn't healed her jaw she would've been there when he left. She-

"Naruto said to tell you that he'll keep on writing." Sasuke looked at her knowingly, one eyebrow slightly raised. "He knew you'd feel guilty about passing out."

"I _don't_." Sakura slightly blushed at being read so easily.

"You do." Sasuke smirked.

Sakura frowned a bit, and was about to say something else, when someone poofed into the room. Sakura looked to her left just in time for the newcomer to greet them.

"Yo!" Kakashi's lone eye wrinkled in a smile. "How's my favorite female student feeling?"

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm your _only_ female student." Sakura deadpanned.

"Details, details. So, I'm guessing you´re fine." The jonin shrugged and then walked to the chair that was farthest from her bed. He threw himself in it and took out his ever-present porn literature.

The two younger shinobi looked at their teacher for a good minute or two, but he said nothing nor stood up. Sakura knew _exactly_ why he was here – and she felt anxiousness build in her slowly – but Sasuke didn't know anything at all.

"Why are you here?"

"Huh? Is there a rule against me visiting?" Kakashi's eyes didn't leave his book. "Don't worry, I'm just here to make sure nothing bad happens to Sakura-chan. I'm not trying to steal her away or something."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched at the implication, but he didn't say anything. His eyes moved to Sakura – who was still pretty much bedridden – and then at Kakashi. Then at Kakashi's book and then back to Sakura. He frowned.

"I'll be fine." Sakura laughed softly, reading his thoughts. "Kakashi might be a pervert, but he's no pedophile. Even if he were, he wouldn't dare lay a hand on me."

"Sakura-chan, you hurt my feelings." Kakashi said with mock hurt, but the way his eye darted at her told her that he wasn't too comfortable with her teasing.

"All right. I'll see you around." Sasuke waved at her and then nodded at Kakashi.

When Sasuke finally closed the door behind him, Sakura felt the weight of Kakashi presence at its fullest. She gulped nervously and then looked back at him, who was sitting in the furthest corner of the room. His book was still open in front of him, but his lone eye was now trained on her and there was no longer a hint of humor in it. After another moment of silence Kakashi finally lowered his book and spoke up with a firm and almost deadly voice, something she had heard him use only on certain occasions.

"So. Are we going to finish the conversation we started this morning?"

"Aa." Sakura agreed and nodded once. "I will have to ask you to soundproof the room and move to sit next to the bed."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes in cold suspicion and Sakura felt fear tug at her lower stomach. She was in no way able to fend for herself right now, and Kakashi was seriously considering her a threat. He never gave that look to anyone he considered an ally. Thankfully, Kakashi decided to do as she asked and soundproofed the room with a jutsu. He slowly picked up the chair, settled it right next to Sakura and sat down carefully. His vigilant eye never left her and she could tell by the way his shoulders were tensed that he was not feeling safe.

Sakura didn't blame him. Kakashi would certainly be suspicious if a mere fourteen year old were to be afraid of Danzo becoming Hokage. The most logical explanation would be for her to be an enemy in disguise or someone with deep understanding of ROOT or the council. She still thought that the best course of action would be to tell Kakashi about her secret. Not only was he already suspicious of her, but now that Danzo was Hokage it was necessary for someone else to know _everything_. Sakura straightened up in her bed and then folded her hands in front of her face covering her mouth.

"I will be speaking in this manner so that no one can read my lips." Sakura spoke clearly through her fingers. Kakashi's frown deepened but nodded nonetheless. "Kakashi, before I start I want you to know that I'm not your enemy. If you still have doubts when I'm finished speaking, I can use a genjutsu to show you everything after I've recovered."

"All right." Kakashi said and leaned back in a slightly less tense manner, but Sakura could tell that he still had his guard up. "Go on."

"The truth is that, though I am your student Haruno Sakura, I'm not _exactly_ who you think I am." Sakura spoke slowly, her eyes intently locked on her sensei's making sure that he wouldn't attack her. "I'm actually a twenty-year old sanin level kunoichi and I came back in time to stop the world from falling apart."

 **A/N: OK. So I actually finished this chapter less than a week after I posted the previous one.**

 **The whole thing is starting to build up. Sakura actually told Kakashi the truth about her time-travel.**

 **What did you think about the fight against Itachi? Did Sakura expose too much about her knowledge of him? Do you think he'll be suspicious of her?**

 **Remember that reviews are love! I love hearing your thoughts on my story so that I can improve as a writer and I also love just your support.**

 **I want to thank my beta MonochromeAce for the quick revision of this chapter!**

 **Have a nice week everyone!**


	25. Away

**CHAPTER 25**

Kakashi was an experienced ninja. He was only 28 years old, but he'd already been an ANBU captain and had fought in the last war. He had seen almost everything that was to be seen by shinobi; the weirdest abilities, the most dangerous criminals and missions, the shameless corruption of the leaders. However, he had never come across something like _this._

He had noticed something off about Sakura ever since she became his student. He'd read her file from the academy teachers and had later thought it was strange that none of them had noticed her abilities as a fighter and as a medic. He had also been quite surprised by how quick she'd improved ever since, given that she didn't have a sharingan to copy techniques nor did she have a tailed beast sealed inside her. She'd been even _better_ than her two teammates.

It had _always_ been nagging him unconsciously and he had known that there was something up. He'd done as he had always said; look underneath the underneath. However, this time he had simply decided to trust her because he instinctively trusted Sakura.

While he was watching Hiruzen resign as Hokage and nominate Danzo as the next one – something that he'd been dreading ever since he met the shady man – he decided to look around and gauge the reactions of his fellow shinobi. While he was at it, his eyes came upon Sakura and he saw her shaking and tensing up as she watched Danzo enter the platform. He'd immediately known that there was something up between her and said man. When he saw that she wasn't getting a grip on herself he approached her before a root ANBU could. He was expecting her to say that Danzo had done something to her family, that she had some connections with root or something along those lines.

What he _didn't_ expect was for her to be a twenty year old time-traveler. When she first told him he'd almost snorted at her – thinking it was a joke – but she convinced him to listen to the whole story. And so, Kakashi sat there for almost two hours listening as she told him about her previous life.

Kakashi half-believed her story as she spoke. Everything had been believable; Sasuke leaving the village, Naruto leaving with Jiraiya, her training with Tsunade – the Fifth Hokage – the truth about the Uchiha massacre and Itachi, the Akatsuki and the tailed beasts, Kabuto and his army of dead shinobi.

The story had made complete sense, but it was still a crazy story and he was not going to believe such a thing _that_ easily. However, when she told him about Obito he had been finally convinced that she'd been speaking the truth. There was _no_ way that she could've possibly known about Obito and Rin – no one knew but Kakashi _himself_.

Sakura had a hand on intel that no shinobi – no matter what rank – could've ever had. She had detailed info on the abilities of every Akatsuki member, even those whose abilities were still unknown. She'd displayed abilities that couldn't be explained and she had known stuff about him that he'd never told her. She knew what his favorite Icha-Icha was and why he was so afraid of hospitals – which wasn't really relevant but gave glimpses of how much she actually knew him.

He had been shocked and quiet the whole time and he could only imagine how stunned his expression must've looked like. The whole thing had been so much for Kakashi that he had to tell her to wait a couple days until he processed it all. He'd been struggling with everything she'd said – _especially_ the truth about Obito – for all of the next day. Thankfully it'd been their day off so he wasn't expected to meet anyone. He'd sat in his living-room and had forced his mind to digest all of that in one go. It had taken a real toll on him and he'd felt his whole sense of security had been shattered. What was he even supposed to do now? Was he to go find Obito and bring him back to his senses? Stay in Konoha and support _Danzo_ of all people? Was that man truly and consciously appointed as Hokage or had he blackmailed Hiruzen?

Sakura's narration of Pein's attack on Konoha and the fourth war had been horribly accurate. He heard her voice tremble and her hands shake as she told him about the deaths she'd seen firsthand. It had reminded Kakashi of his own experience at war. It had brought chills on his skin and a heavy knot in his throat. Sakura's experience had been even worse than his own; every shinobi nation had been wiped out in her time, after all.

When Monday came, Kakashi was sadly forced to leave his house and head to the training grounds where he would meet Sasuke, Sakura and Anko as usual. He was secretly nervous about meeting Sakura; he'd always envisioned her as a _child_ with no real experience as a shinobi, but he was now conscious of the fact that she was as seasoned as he was. Furthermore, what would he do with Sasuke? He'd been training the young man to be the _best_ kind of shinobi until now, but was that a wise thing to do? If Sasuke ever found out about Danzo, would he not become a criminal and use all those abilities against Konoha?

Kakashi slowly approached the training grounds and suddenly felt movement behind him. He unconsciously tensed, but didn't act upon it because he recognized the chakra signature immediately. He felt on arm sneaking around his neck and a warm breath on the skin of his cheek.

"Hey there, big boy." Anko said and he could _hear_ the smirk in her voice. Her free hand snuck down his chest and took a firm hold of his hip. "I missed you yesterday."

"Anko." Kakashi said and felt a small smile on his lips. Anko softly released him and walked around him in a circle.

"Hey." She frowned in worry when she came to a stop in front of him. Her observant eyes obviously caught up on his uneasiness, no matter how good he was at hiding it. "You seem… perturbed by something."

"Oh." Kakashi quickly forced his body to relax and he pushed all of his thoughts under a mental carpet. He shrugged nonchalantly. "I just had a nightmare last night… it was very realistic."

"Are they coming back to you?" Anko held his wrist softy, but her eyes were steady as she looked inquisitively into Kakashi's. She knew that he'd been plagued by nightmares after stepping down from ANBU, but they'd stopped a long time ago.

"It was just this one time. Let's just hope it doesn't happen again."

"OK. If you're _scared_ you can always come and snuggle in my bed. You know how good I am when it comes to distracting you." Anko's tone was lewd and smug with an almost mocking undertone, but he could read the real concern behind it all. She smirked playfully and caressed the skin behind his ear.

"Ah." Kakashi shuddered and felt a blush on his cheek. He couldn't believe what this woman did to him; he felt like a thirteen year old. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Come, let's find those brats." Anko said and led the way.

Kakashi followed close behind her and exhaled deeply. Anko always managed to take the weight off his shoulders with her carefree attitude. He could now clearly see that this whole issue would certainly have to be dealt with, but he still had time. He didn't need to rush things and act impulsively. He had to be careful and think ahead – just like Sakura had been doing, but not take _two_ goddamn years to take action.

"Hey!" Sakura's voice caught his attention and he looked up.

She had been sitting next to Sasuke on the grass and was now standing up. A toothy grin was displayed on her face as she greeted Anko. When she locked eyes with him, her smiled became smaller and there was a tentative look on her face. She was silently wondering about his approach to her now that he knew everything. Kakashi looked into her eyes and found that… there was no change in the way he felt about her. She still felt like his student, a teenage girl that he'd been training for over a year and someone he actually cared about. The only difference was that he now knew her to be more mature. Kakashi's lone eye crinkled as a smile stretched on his lips.

"Yo." He waved.

Sakura's smile widened and then looked to the side when Sasuke stood up. He nodded once at the jonin and motioned towards the grounds, irritation at their teachers' tardiness clear in his body language. They all followed and started training as usual.

Kakashi and Anko talked for a bit about what they would do for training that day. They had barely come to a decision when a sudden presence appeared and interrupted them.

"Haruno Sakura." A masked ANBU spoke looking at her. He then turned his head to look at Sasuke, who was standing not far from her. "Uchiha Sasuke. You're both being summoned by the Danzo-sama. Report to the Hokage office immediately."

Sakura forced a smile and nodded at the ANBU. When he received a confirmation from Sasuke too, he left in a flash. Sakura immediately locked eyes with Kakashi, her face hidden from the rest of the group. Her forehead was scrunched up and she was biting her lip, worry written all over her face. Kakashi moved so that Anko wouldn't see him – her mind was as sharp as her mouth – and reassuringly nodded at Sakura. There was no use in trying to walk around this. It was either go to the Hokage when summoned or become suspicious.

"Come on." Sasuke said from behind her and Kakashi's fists tightened when the two started walking away.

Hopefully they would only be summoned for a mission and nothing more. Still, he couldn't shake the uneasiness from spreading through his gut once again. Anko's unusual silence did nothing to help him; her sharp instincts and knowledge of Danzo's ways probably making her feel weary about this whole situation too.

 **-x-**

Her life was slowly starting to become more and more complicated. She wished to be back in the days when team 7 was together and they would keep on completing simple D-ranked missions. Where there was no dead Tsunade, no missing pages from Orochimaru's report and no Danzo as Hokage.

Sakura had already made up her mind about Danzo becoming Hokage; she was certain that he had somehow forced Hiruzen. Not only were the Third's ideals completely opposite from Danzo's, but he had already refused to make him Hokage once. Why would he accept now? There was also the subject of his speech. He was most definitely still capable of leading the village, unlike what he had stated. Also, he had mentioned the Will of Fire as the most important trait of a leader, but he had not mentioned it as one of Danzo's traits. The Third was a wise and smart man and there was no way he would make such a mistake; he had definitely presented Danzo's appointment as a contradiction on _purpose._ It all meant one thing; Hiruzen had been fully conscious about what he was doing that day, which meant that he'd not been controlled by Danzo's sharingan. However, what methods could've actually coerced Hiruzen into giving in?

Sakura intuitively had the notion that all of that was somehow connected to Tsunade's death – there had been a written warning about the council on her – and Orochimaru's report torn page. Was someone trying to warn Tsunade about Danzo plotting against Hiruzen? Had the council been responsible for Tsunade's death? Had Danzo stolen the intel about Orochimaru's corpse? If he did, what would he use it for? It somehow felt like the pieces of a puzzle, but Sakura could still not clearly understand how everything was connected.

Apart from that _and_ the nearing war, Sakura realized that there was the issue of Itachi now. She hadn't fully shown him the images that she needed in order to let him know what she knew. He had broken out of it too soon and the _look_ he'd thrown at her had been unsettling. Did he want to kill her for showing him images about Sasuke? Could he be worried that her innuendo about the truth about his actions was actually a threat? If he attacked her for real, what would she do?

"Sakura."

"Huh?" Sakura jerked and look at the raven haired teen next to her. "What?"

"I've asked you twice already. Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah." Sakura forced a smile. "I was just… wondering how you were doing ever since we met your brother. We haven't had much time to talk anyways."

"Fine, considering the circumstances." Sasuke said simply.

"Oh." Sakura said and looked at her feet. She'd honestly expected him to speak a bit more. Not only was angst building at a fast rate inside of her due to Danzo summoning them, but she was also honestly interested in knowing how he was dealing with that. A couple seconds passed and Sasuke sighed, seemingly noticing what she had expected.

"I've been a bit on edge and my patience is slightly shortened. But no nightmares or anything else."

"That's good." Sakura smiled, truly glad that at least he wasn't feeling too troubled.

As they walked into the Hokage Tower they became quiet. Sasuke probably due to having nothing else to say and Sakura due to apprehension. Sakura could only hope that Danzo would not be calling her up there because he was suspicious. If she noticed anything, she'd have to try her best to escape, which was not a good option at all. As she watched the office's door come into view, she forced herself to relax; Kakashi already knew of her time-travel. If anything happened and she had to leave, she could count on him.

 _Knock knock._

"Enter." A deep voice said from inside the room and Sasuke slowly opened the door.

Sakura walked inside after him, forcing herself to stay calm and collected. She positioned herself next to Sasuke and looked up towards the desk. Danzo was sitting there with his elbows propped on the table, his hands crossed in front of his face. His eyes were sharp as he scrutinized the two teenagers in front of him. Sakura felt the urge not to squirm uncomfortably under his stare as she'd suspected, but to _punch_ the jerk square in the face. Oh, _how_ she'd enjoy kicking his ass if she cou-

"I will make this quick, since I can't be wasting my time. I've called the two of you over for different issues." he spoke seriously and turned to look at Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke. You are aware that you're the last Uchiha who can clear up the Clan's name in the village and the last person with a fully capable sharingan."

"Hai."

"Your training has been under the tutelage of Hatake Kakashi until now, but given how much your abilities are needed I've decided that he will no longer be training you." Danzo's voice held the steel of a ruthless upper military. "Your training will be supervised by be from now on, so that I can make sure that you can reach you potential."

Sakura felt Sasuke tense next to her and she cursed. Danzo couldn't possibly be trying to get his claws on Sasuke, could he? He _hated_ the Uchiha Clan… why not simply send Sasuke off to his death instead of-

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura jerked up and the sound of her name spoken by Danzo sent shivers down her spine. "It has come to my attention that you are a _medic nin_ that's said to be a genius." Sakura felt like lashing out at his belittling tone when he mentioned her profession, but remained calm and nodded. "You also seem to have offered Hiruzen to give some advice about how to improve the healthcare system in Suna."

"Hai."

"Good. I've decided that the peace treaty with Suna was rushed. I need to be certain about their real intentions regarding this issue, so I will send you as an undercover spy to watch their movements." Sakura's arms tensed at his words, but remained still. "You will be going as a delegate to improve their hospital and improve the expertise of the health professionals. I have decided that the mission's duration is to be 24 months, which should be enough for you to believably improve their system _and_ find out what they're after."

"Sir, with all due respect, that amount of time-"

" _Are you refusing an order, Haruno_?" Danzo raised his voice to interrupt her.

"No, sir." Sakura lowered her head in submission. She knew how vicious Danzo could be when it came to securing his authority, so she decided to play by his rules.

" _Good._ " He spoke slowly, and Sakura _swore_ that there had been a vicious glint in his eye when he mentioned the amount of time she would be spending in Suna. "The risk of your journey to Suna is low enough for you to travel on your own. Pack your stuff, say good-bye to your family and leave as soon as possible."

"Hai." Sakura stood straight as she fought the shaking that her anger was threatening to unleash throughout her whole body.

"You're dismissed. The Uchiha and I need to plan out a schedule."

"Thank you, sir." She successfully managed to mask her feelings and bowed lowly. She turned to look at Sasuke briefly and noticed that he was looking straight ahead. He was smart and had probably noticed that he needed to act as a dutiful soldier and not look at her.

Sakura turned around and walked out of the office. She walked down the stairs, turned around the corner and immediately walked into a public bathroom that was inside the Tower. She entered a cubicle and closed the door behind her softly. As soon as she was sure that she was on her own and no one was watching her, she dropped to her knees. Sakura held the closed toilet seat in a death grip as she felt her hands tremble.

 _That bastard._

Sakura was not sure if her assumptions were wrong. But just thinking about them made her stomach churn in concern. _Sasuke_. According to her, there was only one probable reason to why Danzo had decided to oversee Sasuke's training. He wanted to make Sasuke his protégée and teach him his ways. Since it was _Danzo,_ he probably wouldn't to it out of good-will and concern for the boy. After everything the bastard had done to him, he wanted to _use_ Sasuke for his own goals.

If Danzo wanted Sasuke dead, he could simply send him off to a difficult mission, or use his sharingan to manipulate him into having an accident. And no matter what he did, Itachi would see through his actions and spoil his highlight as Hokage with the truth about the massacre. After all, his only condition for deserting and becoming a criminal was for Sasuke to remain safe in Konoha.

Sakura wondered for a moment if it had been actually a good turn of events for Sasuke to stay in the village. However, she immediately brushed the thought off. If Sasuke were to be a rogue nin, Danzo would certainly send every available ANBU to bring his head back. Sasuke needed to stay in the village, he needed to believe that Itachi had been the one truly responsible for the Uchiha massacre. If he found out… Sakura didn't even want to think about that.

Then, there was the issue of her long term mission. _Two fucking years._ Sakura wondered if her assumption about Danzo made her see things… but she thought that she'd seen his eyes glinting when he mentioned the length of her mission. It did make sense for him to send her away to Suna because of suspicions about their intentions – she expected him to believe that everyone was as deceptive as he was – but _two_ years was definitely too much. Sakura was sure that six months would be more than enough to do what he asked her to do. Why would he want to send her away for such a long time?

Could it be that he wanted to isolate Sasuke? After all, it wouldn't be a stretch to state that she was Sasuke's only friend now that Naruto was gone. If she were to leave, Sasuke would much more easily give in to whatever Danzo was planning. Would Sasuke become cold-hearted once again? Would he shut everyone out and build up his emotional walls once again? Would he become Danzo's right hand and agree with everything he did?

If she left, not only would she have to miss her precious people – her family, Ino, Sasuke, Kakashi, Anko – but she would _also_ be worried sick about Sasuke. Sakura wanted to stay _so_ badly. She wanted to stay here with her loved ones, she wanted to stay here and make sure Danzo didn't brainwash Sasuke. However, Sakura knew that it wasn't an option. If she were to refuse the mission, he would be suspicious and probably have her interrogated. Who knows, maybe he'd even execute her for treason. If she were to tell Sasuke everything and convince him to leave, he would certainly be hunted by the strongest shinobi in the village. If that were to happen he would die, because he didn't have the protection or Orochimaru this time around. Also, Sakura didn't want him to become hate-ridden once again.

Sakura felt terrified when she confirmed that her best option was to simply do as Danzo had asked of her. However, she wouldn't let him have his way. She would do her best to fight whatever he was planning with claws and teeth. With a resolved mind, Sakura wiped down the tears that had been pooling in her eyes and took a deep breath. She walked out of the cubicle, washed her face and left the tower.

Sakura's feet carried her towards the Yamanaka household. Her pace was steady and quick, so she arrived in less than ten minutes, a plan already formed in her head. She allowed her chakra to spread around her and sensed a faint presence following her. The chakra was almost perfectly hidden so it must've been an ANBU… or a root ANBU, which meant that she was being watched. Sakura frowned. Was Danzo already suspicious of her? Or was he simply making sure that she would leave as soon as possible, as he had instructed?

Sakura knocked on Ino's door and bit her lower lip, praying that her friend was home. To her relief, Ino opened the door and widened her eyes at the sight of her friend.

"Sakura?"

"I'm sorry to come unannounced. It's important." Sakura frowned.

"What are you apologizing for? Come in, Forehead."

Sakura walked into the living room and watched Ino put away some book's that she'd been reading. The blonde turned to her and put a hand on her hip.

"So, are you going to tell me what this is about?"

"I'm leaving for a long term mission." Sakura sighed. "For two years."

"What?! Two years?" Ino gaped. "But… you just made chunin and you're still fourteen."

"I know." Sakura bit her lip. "Danzo-sama expects more of us."

Ino crossed the room in two long strides and hugged Sakura tightly. Sakura took the chance and whispered into Ino's ear.

"Ino, we're being watched. I need us to communicate through our thoughts. Do the jutsu when I tell you to." At Sakura's words Ino was frozen for a moment, but soon nodded. Sakura lifted her arms in between them, so that the spy wouldn't be able to see the seals, and soundproofed the room. "Now."

"Shindenshin no Jutsu!"

Ino spoke into the pinkette's shoulder, making sure that it didn't seem as if she were speaking. Sakura dropped the soundproofing and released Ino with a smile. Ino smiled back and motioned towards the kitchen.

"Come, let us have some tea and sit in the garden for a couple minutes."

A couple minutes later they were sitting in the outdoor corridor in silence and looking at the ornamental flowers in peace. Or at least that was what it seemed like.

" _What the hell is going on, forehead?"_

" _Ino. First, I need to tell you that I don't trust Danzo. He seems to me as sneaky, dishonest, and a fascist."_

" _Hmm. Shikamaru thinks the same."_

" _Today I was with Sasuke in his office. He sent me on a two-year long mission and decided to be in charge of Sasuke's training from now on. Not only that, he also sent an ANBU to follow me!"_

" _How can you tell you're being followed?"_

" _I've been working on sensing others with Anko. The thing is, I'm worried about Sasuke. I'm the only friend he has, and all of his family is dead. Kakashi won't be training with him anymore… he'll be alone. I don't trust Danzo. I don't think he means well."_

" _And you're telling me this because you want me to keep an eye on him."_

" _Not just that… I know it's a lot to ask. But… try to be friends with him. Don't let him be alone again. Try to talk to him… maybe he can be friends with Shikamaru and Choji too. Please."_

" _Sakura. Do you honestly think that he will be all right with that? You know how he is… he'll probably push us away."_

" _I know. I know, damn it! But please try. Please. I'll make sure to keep in touch with him, so you could use knowing about me as an excuse at first."_

" _All right, all right. Jeez. You worry too much. Besides, you should look after yourself too, you know?_ You're _the one who's leaving for two years."_

"I'll miss you, Pig." Sakura said aloud and Ino left her mind.

"I know. I'll miss you too."

Sakura stood up and walked with Ino towards the hall. She hugged the blonde tightly and then left towards her house. As she walked down the street, she suddenly saw Kakashi walking towards her. Her eyes locked with his and her face became serious, which immediately notified him that something important had happened.

"Sakura-chan." He greeted lazily. He was always such a good actor.

"Sensei." Sakura smiled.

"How was the meeting with Danzo-sama?"

"First of all, he will be in charge of Sasuke's training from now on." She sighed. "Also, he's sending me to Suna on a two-year long mission."

Kakashi's eye widened as he turned to look at her with shock. He soon gathered himself and chuckled. "Well, he must hold you in great esteem if he thinks you're ready for such a mission. And he will probably do a much better job than me training Sasuke."

Kakashi's answer was clearly misleading. He was ANBU-level too, so he had probably already noticed the looming presence that was watching over them. They walked together for a little while before he spoke again.

"When are you leaving?"

"I guess in about an hour I'll be at the gates."

"I have something to do now. I don't know if I'll manage to get to the gates in time. So, if that's the case." Kakashi stepped closer and hugged Sakura shortly. He tilted his head and whispered into her ear. "I'll look after Sasuke. And I'll try to do something about the Akatsuki too."

"I'll miss you too, sensei." Sakura said as she let go and waved him goodbye.

Akatsuki. Sakura cursed. She'd _completely_ forgotten about them. She'd been so worried about Sasuke and Danzo, that she'd suddenly forgotten everything about her _real_ mission. How was she even supposed to do _anything_ from Suna? How could she try to find Obito or Itachi if she was _trapped_ there?

Sakura cursed her luck, but at the same time was relieved to know that she could at least count on Kakashi. He already knew everything about the Akatsuki, their members, their abilities and weaknesses. He would be able to do something about them. He better, because he was Sakura's only viable option for now.

 **-x-**

Sasuke had always wanted to become stronger. Ever since his clan had been murdered it had been the only think in his mind so that he could kill Itachi. Of course he had known that in order to achieve such a thing he would have to find a strong mentor or teacher. When he became a genin, he would've probably trained under anyone with enough power, no matter what impression they gave him. He was willing to become a monster in order to achieve his goal.

But Sasuke was not who he used to be one and a half years ago. He had been put in team 7, and both Sakura and Naruto had changed the way he looked at things..., especially Sakura. The change had been slow but steady. He still wanted to get revenge; it was still his main goal in life, but it was not his only goal. He also wanted to belong to his village, to his team. He wanted to do things in a way that didn't make him regret his life. He wanted to become strong and kill Itachi without losing himself and without ruining his life.

However, his life had always been a paradox. When he'd started noticing something off about his family, they'd been killed. When he finally became a ninja and had the chance to become much stronger, he was put into team 7 and changed his way of thinking. He'd become closer to Naruto, and he had left. He had become closer to Sakura, and she was leaving now for two whole years. He had finally decided that he wanted to become stronger in a way that was honorable, and then Danzo had decided to train him.

Sasuke would've been thrilled to be trained under a Kage. He had to be pretty strong and he also seemed like someone with experience. But it wasn't the case; he wasn't glad at all. Sasuke had noticed something off about Sakura the moment they took off towards the Hokage Tower. And when he entered the office he knew why she'd been so nervous.

Shimura Danzo seemed ruthless, corrupt, dishonest, and a tyrant. The way he held himself and the way he treated others showed with great clarity that he expected absolute loyalty. The way he observed others spoke of how much he looked down on them. However, he didn't particularly seem like a self-centered selfish person which made Sasuke consider that he might truly want the best for their village. Sasuke wasn't exactly sure if he agreed with his ways or not – he didn't have much of an opinion on politics – but he was certain the Sakura didn't agree with him. He knew her enough to be sure that she was the complete opposite and that she was much more into Hiruzen's kind of leadership. He could also tell by the way she'd acted around Danzo that she didn't like him one bit, but thankfully he'd been able to tell only because he knew her well. He hoped that no one else had noticed her antagonistic demeanor during the meeting.

Sasuke was a bit bothered by the fact that Danzo had not asked him if he wanted to be trained by him and had simply commanded him to. Nonetheless, he was much more upset about the way he had treated Sakura. Of course she would feel a bit apprehensive about leaving her home for two years on an _undercover_ mission at the age of _fourteen._ Sasuke would've obeyed just like she had, but he definitely would've been uncertain about it as well.

As soon as Sakura had left the Hokage's office, Sasuke had planned a schedule with Danzo – which seemed impossibly difficult to him, which was good for his improvement as a shinobi – and then left. He immediately went home, knowing that when Sakura had time she would find him. He waited for a good thirty minutes in his living room until there was a soft knock on the door. He stood up and walked to the door, opening up without asking because he already knew who it was.

"Sakura."

"Hey." She smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. Sasuke sighed.

"Come in." Sasuke led her towards his living room and turned around to face her. She had her travelling pack over her shoulder and she was dressed for a journey. "So… you're actually leaving."

"Yeah." Sakura looked at the ground beneath her feet and slowly placed her backpack on the ground next to the couch. "I already said goodbye to everyone else. I… wanted to see you before I left."

"I know." Sasuke nodded, he also wanted to see her before she departed for Suna.

Sakura frowned for a moment and it seemed like she was struggling with something. Sasuke wondered what she wanted to say, but waited patiently. Suddenly, Sakura took a step forward and put her arms around Sasuke's neck in a tight hug. Sasuke almost choked on his spit at the sudden gesture, his whole body tensing at the unexpected contact. He was about to ask her about it, but she spoke before he could.

"Sasuke, someone's tailing me." She whispered. "Play along."

Sasuke's eyes widened for a second, but he immediately recovered and tentatively put his own arms around her. He was forced to fight his unconscious reaction of pulling away before tilting his head towards Sakura's ear. "What's going on?"

"Sasuke. I don't trust Danzo. I don't think he means well… I…" Sakura gulped and fisted he collar of Sasuke's shirt.

"What?" he frowned.

"He's not being truthful, I just know it. He even sent someone to follow me now… he's spying on his own people, Sasuke."

"I don't know…"

" _Sasuke._ Please be careful. Don't let him fool you, don't let him manipulate you. Don't let his twisted ways get to you. Stay the way you are and don't turn into what he wants to make you into." Sakura took a deep breath and the knot in her throat become audibly heavier. She then breathed out shakily and continued speaking into Sasuke's neck. "Don't let him know you're weary of him; he's smart and sharp. Pretend that you're all right with whatever he does, but never drop your guard."

"…" Sakura felt Sasuke's uneasiness in the way he unconsciously tapped his fingers on her back. She knew that his gesture would've normally sent shivers down her spine, but she sadly was in no condition to enjoy it.

"Promise me that you'll take good care of yourself. Promise me that you'll try to let other people in. Don't let him isolate you… don't-" her voice broke and a couple tears trailed down her cheeks. "Don't be alone. Let other people in. It will be so much easier for him if you're on your own. I know it's not easy for you… but you have to try."

"Sakura…" Sasuke frowned. He was partly worried about her reaction to everything, because he trusted her instincts and doubted that she was wrong. On the other hand, he was almost… glad to see that someone cared enough about him to have such a powerful emotional reaction. That _Sakura_ actually cared that much about his wellbeing. It seemed selfish to feel good when she was looking so desperate. Sasuke could _feel_ the moisture of her tears on his shoulder and it made the anxious knot in his throat come with a warm feeling in his chest.

"Promise me, _please._ " Sakura hissed and crushed him into her body.

"I promise." He said, suddenly filled with determination. Sasuke trusted her. And he was also a bit weary of the Fifth. He would make sure to watch his back around Danzo and mask his suspicions about him.

"Sasuke, if you're ever in trouble, you can count on Kakashi. If no one's available, then write to me using the word " _excellent_ " and I'll drop my mission to come and give you a hand." Sakura finished and he nodded in agreement. Sasuke however knew that he would probably never call out to her for help, because she would be in great trouble if she disobeyed Danzo's orders.

Sakura slowly released her tight hold on him, and Sasuke was surprised to find that he actually missed her warmth. When was the last time that he had actually been comfortable with physical contact – apart from training – with anyone ? Now that he thought about it, why hadn't he pushed her away when she hugged him? Why was he even hugging her back? He could've just allowed her to hug him and kept there still.

Sakura genuinely smiled at him and he couldn't help but give a small smile back. A couple more seconds passed and Sasuke noticed how she sent fleeting glances behind her. Apparently, whoever was tailing her was there, but Sasuke couldn't feel a thing. It wasn't too much of a surprise though; Sakura _was_ one of the best when it came to chakra control. She was even a proficient medic nin at fourteen. It wasn't unexpected for her to have better sensing abilities.

"So." Sakura spoke in a normal tone, but it was still slightly broken due to her previous tears. "Make sure to write regularly. I'll write to you once a week. Please, let's not lose contact."

"Sakura." Sasuke spoke firmly and looked at her straight in the eye. He saw her eyebrows shoot up in surprise at his tone, but he simply put his hand on her shoulder. He saw her general distraught demeanor and wanted to ease her a bit. "Don't be reckless. Take good care of yourself. Don't let your guard down and make sure to not make anyone suspicious. You have to know that this will be dangerous for you." – _too._

"I know." The unspoken word was immediately caught by Sakura. She grinned in real happiness.

Sasuke knew that she had caught on to his genuine worry about her, but for some reason he didn't mind. Maybe he had gotten used to showing more emotion around her or the circumstances didn't allow him to be self-conscious, it didn't really matter. His eyes looked into her emerald eyes for what would be the last time in years, and he unexpectedly felt sadness envelop him. After spending so much time together with her, he had truly gotten used to her company. He honestly didn't want her to leave. But they didn't have a choice on the matter.

"I'll see you in two years. And I'll write to you as soon as I get there."

"Aa. Have a safe journey."

Sakura walked towards the front door and stopped before opening it. As she cast a finale glance at him, he swore that she was crying again, but she quickly turned around and left without another word. The silence in his apartment suddenly became almost unbearable and he bit his lower lip. It had nothing to do with the fact that he lived alone; he had become used to that _years_ ago. It was due to the knowledge that from now on, he would truly be on his own. He had for so long wanted to be alone, to be _left_ alone so that he could focus on training. However, at that moment, the only thing he wanted was to _not_ be on his own. He shook his head. At least he would be living in a familiar place and surrounded by familiar people.

Sasuke's heart dropped to his stomach at the thought of what _Sakura_ would have to go through in Suna. Undercover missions were pretty risky, and Sasuke gauged that her mission must've been at least A-ranked. He cursed Danzo for sending someone like her – though having potential, Sakura was _still_ young – on such a difficult mission. And it was not just difficult… Sakura would have to endure everything on her own. The strain of living a double life, of keeping her emotions and thoughts hidden. The strain of forcing herself to lie to people who she would probably become close to. The hardships that came when bearing everything without anyone to speak to, because she certainly would not have the chance to even _write_ to him about her real mission. And do all of that for _years._

If only Sasuke had known at the moment the _real_ extent of his thoughts.

 **-x-**

As the village became barely recognizable in the distance, Sakura forced her eyes to stay on the dirt road ahead to keep her mind clear. Nonetheless, she was still plagued with distressing thoughts.

It was all so damn _fucked up._ Sakura wondered for a moment if her intervention in this time line would make everything even _worse._ Could things be truly worse? Worse than the Ten-Tails practically wiping out humanity?

Would she be able to do something – _anything –_ about the Akatsuki or Obito while stuck in Suna?

Would she even be able to keep herself alive in that place? She cursed the moment that she'd walked in on Hiruzen and Jiraiya's meeting without an excuse. She cursed herself for coming up with _that_ particular excuse, though she honestly couldn't have possibly imagined the repercussions.

Was Danzo _aware_ of who she truly was, of what she knew? Was he sending her away so that she wouldn't stop whatever he was planning? Had he announced his tutoring of Sasuke in front of her as a form of threat or had it just been coincidence?

What would happen with Sasuke while she was away? Would she come home to find the same person that she'd just hugged good-bye? How deep would Danzo get into him? Sasuke _was_ smart, but so was Danzo. And Danzo was ruthless, manipulative, _and_ Hokage.

What would happen to Konoha while she was away? What kind of village would she encounter when she came back? Would she come back to find a slightly more conservative society? Would she come back to a tyranny ruling over terrified inhabitants?

Sakura honestly didn't have the heart to wonder. Because _every single_ scenario that went through her mind was terrifying.

 **A/N: OMG OK. I'm betting none of you even imagined this one.**

 **I know it's a big thing. But there are three reasons for this.**

 **Frist of all, I can't honestly write two years' worth of plot that barely moves forward regarding the Akatsuki and the war.**

 **Second, my age is nearing the** _ **third**_ **decade too fast for me to be writing romance between thirteen year olds, so I** _ **need**_ **them to grow up a bit. (** _ **Yes**_ **, romance is not far anymore.)**

 **Lastly, Sasuke needs time to become a person of his own. He also has to become stronger – I know a weak Sasuke could make an interesting plot, but not this time – and some other stuff that I can't spoil for you right now.**

 **I'd love to know your thought on this plot twist.**

 **Also, let me know what you thought of the different POVs? Kakashi? Sasuke? Were they OOC? What about Ino and Danzo?**

 **I'm especially interested in what you guys think of Sasuke's thoughts. I don't know if it may seemed rushed –** _ **god**_ **I was never sure when he should start figuring that Sakura was important to him – or if it was good.**

 **As, always: I love to read your feedback and support!**

 **Special thanks to my beta MonochromeAce, who read this chapter real quick. She always manages to put up with my insane writing schedule!**


	26. Back from Suna

**CHAPTER 26**

The hot water streamed down her shoulders and back, easing away some of the tension that had been building up for the past few days. Deciding that she couldn't afford to lose more time, Sakura turned the shower off and stepped out of it. She quickly dried herself off and then briefly looked at herself in the mirror.

Sakura's nose had become a bit longer and her face less round. Her cheekbones were slightly more pronounced and her lips a bit fuller. Her eyes were still large, but smaller in relation to the size of her whole face. Her features had come to resemble those of her previous self so much, that it sometimes caught Sakura off guard and made her frown in discomfort. Some days, Sakura would feel as if this body belonged to the person she had once been; someone living in the middle of war against the Juubi, someone running away from madness and destruction. The uncanny resemblance to her past self had become quite bothersome, so Sakura had decided to allow her hair to grow. The front of her face now was framed by short bangs, while behind her forehead protector her hair reached mid-back and was currently tied up in a high bun. The change to her hair had definitely helped her feel different from her past self – and from all the memories that came with it – and put her mind a bit more at ease.

When she finally finished fixing her hair, she walked into the bedroom. She put on a red longs-sleeved shirt and black shorts and then sat down on the bed she'd been using for the past two years. Her eyes trailed along all the things that she'd been collecting and using for that period and unconsciously stopped at the small table that was on the opposite side of the room. A smile tugged at one side of her lips and she stood up and walked closer to it.

The table was small, but there were countless letters scattered on its surface. She had become increasingly more nervous about her return to Konoha and had had the irrational need to read Sasuke's letters again. Sakura had planned to read them last night, but she'd come back to her room late and tired and had fallen asleep not even remembering her original intentions. Her right hand trailed the edge of one letter and then picked it up.

 _Sakura,_

 _It's good to know that the hospital has improved after all this time. It must be a good feeling to see all that hard work actually being useful. On my side, I've been feeling a bit stuck. The first year Danzo's training was harsh to the point that I felt like giving up at the end of most days. And it all helped me improve my battle abilities vastly. However, this past month Danzo's been adamant on teaching me about politics and spying. Even though I must say that it's interesting, I feel like I'm wasting so much time on it. I only seldom squeeze in an hour or two to train with other people anymore. I have decided to accept whatever he throws at me though; he said that it would only be for a couple of months and it's not like I have a say in the matter anyways._

 _Your parents have been insisting that I go and have dinner with them – is that your doing? – so I ended up agreeing on going over tomorrow. I hope it won't be too awkward; if neither Naruto or you are there I fear I'll be the subject of your father's teasing._

 _I hope things continue to go as they have with your mission._

 _Sasuke._

Her eyes looked down at the table as she laid the paper down and picked another one. It was one of the last letter's she'd received from him. Her eyes softened as she read through the words.

 _Sakura,_

 _Yesterday I finally found some time for myself. I was wondering if Shikamaru was around for a game of shoji, but he turned out to be out on a mission. I didn't feel like looking for Ino or Choji, because as I've told you they test my patience whenever Shikamaru isn't around. I swear that the two of them act like an old married couple sometimes. Anyways, I ended up deciding to train on my own for a change and so that I would make some good use of my time. I somehow found myself at training ground 7, a place I hadn't been in since you left._

 _I didn't expect to remember so many things from when we were still a team. I remembered that time when Naruto and I had to prove our team-work to Kakashi and you. We were so awful at the time that now it seems even funny. Looking back on it, I think it was mostly my fault that things started off badly with Naruto. However, I don't regret any of it; it's the highlight of my day when I get to tick the dobe off._

 _I also recalled the day that you told me about your suspicions about Kakashi and Anko and then realized that I hadn't told you about_ it _. A couple weeks ago I was walking towards training early in the morning and I passed by Kakashi's house. Can you guess who was jumping out the window? I don't think I've ever seen Anko so flustered. I do understand why they're keeping their thing a secret with the way people talk, but I don't think that they should make it such a big deal. Honestly, I assume they've been together for two years? One would think that they'd go public about it after such a long time. Then again, there may be another reason for them keeping their relationship a secret._

 _Anyways, I thought it would be a fun fact to know that you've been right about them all this time. Are you looking forward to coming back home? Don't you think you'll miss Suna? I hope you're doing all right,_

 _Sasuke._

Sakura once again smiled at the mental picture of Anko's shocked face after jumping out of Kakashi's window at dawn. If it'd been Sakura the one to see her, Anko would've probably told her that she'd had a great time in bed and even what position she'd enjoyed the most. She was bold and shameless like that – not that Sakura minded. Sakura's free hand picked another letter up and placed it on top of the previous one.

 _Sakura,_

 _I'm glad you're fine. I'm fine too. Danzo's training is difficult, which is good. Ino's being a pain in the ass and I wonder if she picked up that crush once more now that you left. I have to find another training partner now, but I definitely wouldn't want it to be Ino_ _so I'll have to keep looking. I hope you're not having trouble while settling down in Suna._

 _Sasuke._

Sakura's eyes widened at the now apparent differences between the last two letters. She'd never really had the chance to take notice of such a thing before, because she had always read one letter at the most due to how little time she spent in her room. She did know that Sasuke had opened up since he decided to speak to team 10 – mostly Shikamaru though – and that he'd even taken on a hobby or two apart from training. However _,_ she'd never taken the time to notice how much the way he _wrote_ to her had changed.

Her hands hastily picked up one letter after the other, her eyes quickly going through some one the paragraphs that she'd already read. Her realization was only confirmed. Sasuke had begun writing to her in a manner that was distant and practical, only speaking about training and what bothered him. However, he had slowly started speaking about feelings and thoughts and his letters had become lengthier. If such an apparent change had happened in the way he wrote correspondence, then what kind of changes should she expect to see when she met him in person? On one hand, it was surprising that Sasuke had actually started communicating more as time passed by, but on the other hand it wasn't. After all, if they weren't sharing actual _time_ together, the only way to keep their friendship was through writing and it wouldn't make much sense for her to be the only one to actually say something.

Sakura slowly gathered all of Sasuke's replies and put them away in a folder. She then occupied herself with putting all of her important items into her travelling pack. Her mind once again drifted off to the subject of Sasuke. Sakura had been sure that there was something off about Danzo and the way he still hadn't done anything against Sasuke. Either Sasuke had been brainwashed into believing everything Danzo fed him, or he had become a great liar that not even Danzo doubted. Because, if Sasuke was still all right and training in Konoha, then it had to be because Danzo deemed him useful for whatever he was planning in the village. Then again, maybe things were awful and Sasuke didn't want to use the code word to alert her – because he certainly wouldn't tell her about any difficult situations because their letters were most likely being scanned by root ANBU. Even worse, maybe Sasuke was dead and he wasn't even the one she'd been writing to, but that was a stretch and she honestly didn't even want to consider that scenario.

On that subject, Sakura had long ago decided that she would _need_ to clear her suspicions about Danzo sometime, because she was almost certain that he'd had something to do with Tsunade's death. The letter on her that read _'The council is on the move. Watch out for Hiruzen'._ The fact that the medical page of Orochimaru's report had been torn by someone with access to restricted areas in the Hokage Tower. Her certainty that Hiruzen had been forced to appoint Danzo as Hokage. It all couldn't be a coincidence and Sakura actually believed that it'd all been part of a twisted plot of his. It was her duty – no, she felt the imperative _need_ to find out the truth sometime. If Danzo was responsible for her shishou's death and had illegitimately become Hokage in her stead, she would make sure to make him _pay dearly._

Sakura finished sweeping the floor and then looked around to see the place completely devoid of anything that remotely notified that someone had been using the room. Her travel pack was already closed and the remaining stuff she wouldn't be taking was in a big disposable bag at one corner of the room. Now that she'd taken everything, the room was naked and its rustic style was much clearer. On the roof there were timber logs to support and earthen ceiling and the floor under her feet was also made from dry clay. Even the plaster was made of earth, which was something that Sakura had arrived _hating_ but learned to cherish. It was definitely not her home, but it was definitely a homey environment.

Sakura picked up her pack, walked out the door and closed the door behind her one final time. She walked towards the hospital, which was only two blocks away from where she'd been living. She instinctively moved out of the way for pedestrians and greeted those that she knew. She soon entered the hospital and expertly entered the hallway, greeting _everyone_ that worked there. It sometimes was tiring to know so many people, but Sakura valued how grateful they were and wouldn't dream of being rude towards them. However, seeing as she was about to leave, every greeting was met with a smile and honest happiness building inside of her. She finally arrived at the basement – a place she'd spent countless hours _studying_ in – and knocked on an office door.

"Come in."

Sakura opened the door in a rush and walked into the office with a toothy beam on her face. Her eyes glinted as she met eyes with the old woman that had been teaching her ever since she arrived. "Chiyo-chan."

"Ahhh, Sakura!" she smiled widely back and stood up from her sitting position. "So, the day has finally come, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit sad though." Sakura admitted.

"Ah, don't say that. You'll get to see your friends and your family again." She said and then raised her eyebrows suggestively. "And also, that boy you've been writing to ever since you got here – Sasuke. You can't tell me you're not excited about seeing _him._ "

"Well, yeah." Sakura blushed a bit and sheepishly smiled. "Though I'm still a bit nervous… I haven't seen him in so long. I have the feeling that he might've changed. I honestly don't know what to expect now."

"If you don't want to feel disappointed, then don't –"

"Don't expect anything, I know." Sakura said simultaneously. After a couple seconds of silence Sakura sighed. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too." Chiyo nodded in agreement and when their eyes met again Chiyo's had softened. "I must say that the experience I had with you was something I never expected to have. I had always thought that one was either a teacher or a student… however this dynamic that we established of co-learning and co-teaching has been eye opening for me. Even at _my_ age _._ You've been one of the best teachers I've had and you've definitely been the best student I've had. I was honored with our time."

Sakura felt tears build in her eyes and in the blink of an eye she was tightly hugging the older woman. She took a deep breath in, her elderly scent filling her with a sense of quiet and wisdom as always. "I feel the same, I truly do."

"I would wish you good luck." Chiyo said as she pulled back. "But knowing that you're a smart, incredibly talented, hardworking and good-natured person, I'm certain that you won't need any _luck_. Though I should _demand_ that you find some happiness for yourself, because I _also_ know that _you_ are always your last priority."

Sakura laughed kindly and then held her friends forearm softly. "Thanks. I hope that you stay like you are, Chiyo-chan. You don't need to fix all those flaws like I do. I'll come and visit sometime, I _swear._ It'll be great to see how much the hospital will have improved with your help."

"All right, all right. Get going now. You don't want to end up leaving at noon."

"I'll see you around!" Sakura waved at Chiyo and then walked back towards the street level.

Sakura had added a truly important asset to her skills with Chiyo; she'd become a poison specialist and had refined her own knowledge on antidotes and medical drugs. Apart from that, Chiyo had brought up the subject of summons and Sakura had realized that she'd never even thought about it. After reading a bit on summoning, she found that blood contracts were not supposed to be affected by time or space. So, in theory, her summoning contract with the slugs would still be intact. Sakura had been thrilled to find out that they indeed were. It didn't only mean that she had a useful summoning technique, but also that she had something from Tsunade in this life as well.

Sakura had quickly left the hospital before anyone else tried to start a conversation with her and walked towards the Kazekage tower for a final stop. Her feet moved quickly so that she wouldn't risk having to spend the night out in the desert and arrived at the fifth floor in no time.

"Sakura-chan!" a woman's voce stopped her and she turned around to see Temari walking towards her. "You're leaving already?"

"Yeah. The day has finally arrived, huh?"

"Well, you've been complaining about it all this time, so you better not change your mind _now._ " Temari patted Sakura's back enthusiastically and she almost stumbled forward. "I may come visit Konoha sometime. You tell Shikamaru that he better expect to get his ass kicked now that I'm chunin too. The last time I saw him he found a way to evade our encounter until I had to leave!"

"I will." Sakura chuckled. "You know, I still think that a more classic approach would be better to get under his skin."

"And _why_ the hell would I take a classic approach when I'm not a classic girl? It would be like a false advertising about myself, because I wouldn't want to hide _this_ amazing personality for too long." Temari finished and laughed loudly.

"I guess you're right. It's better to always be yourself, right?" Sakura agreed.

"Good luck to you too. You know who I'm talking about."

"What's gotten into everyone's mind today that they're all talking about Sasuke?!"

"Who said anything about Sasuke?" Temari raised an eyebrow and Sakura almost choked on her spit. "Just kidding! I've known ever since you three escorted us back home after the invasion. It was written all over your face for fuck's sake!"

"Whatever." Sakura mumbled with a soft blush on her cheeks. She honestly wasn't too comfortable with being open about Sasuke, because she still felt like a _twenty-two_ year old woman fancying a sixteen year old boy. And that was certainly a bit unsettling, even if her body was that of a teenager too.

"Write to me sometime, will ya?" Temari gave Sakura a quick hug and then stepped back again.

"Ok. See you around!" Sakura waved and then resumed her way towards the Kazekage office.

She was soon in front of his door and knocking. When she was finally allowed to enter, she bit her lower lip. This was definitely going to be the most difficult person to say good-bye to. Her eyes met Gaara's sky blue eyes and she felt a small smile tug at her lips.

"Hey." She said softly.

"Hey." He replied and motioned at the chair for her to take a seat. Sakura did as he said and then the silence stretched for a bit until Gaara chuckled. "I would be able to perceive your conflicted feelings even with my eyes closed."

"Oh, shut up." Sakura smiled. "You would've been able to know how conflicted I was without even meeting me."

"True."

"On the other hand, you don't seem conflicted at all." Sakura pointed out.

"I'm _mourning_." Gaara smirked a bit and reclined back on his seat. His smile soon faded and he frowned a bit. "I will in fact miss you."

"I know."

"Not just our training sessions – it will be hard to find someone that can keep up – but also our conversations. People in here are either afraid of me or respect me too much to disagree about _anything._ I honestly think it'll soon get on my nerves after you leave."

"Well, not everyone can get a piece of me." Sakura shrugged. "Besides, you have to learn to live without me too, you know? It's not healthy if you depend on me as if –"

"You're on your cloud once again." Gaara's soft voice spoke as he rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched in a half contained smile.

"Anyways, you'll have to find someone – which you will – because it'll probably be a long time before I come back here. You know how much I miss Konoha."

"Aa. I have to thank you though; you did wonders with our health system. You barely asked for more funding and everything works so much better."

"I told you, it was all a matter of efficiency, organization and qualification. Not about infrastructure or the quantity of the health professionals."

"I can still be surprised, can't I?"

"I guess." Sakura smiled. She looked at the clock and frowned. "I really need to get going."

Gaara nodded. "It's almost 9 am. You'll have to hurry to get out of the desert before sunset."

"I'll take my leave now." Sakura stood up, which was mirrored by Gaara. Sakura hugged him tightly for a couple seconds and then turned around to leave. However, she stopped at the door of his office and frowned. She turned around to look at him for another second. "Gaara. You know what they're saying, right? That the Akatsuki is after the tailed beasts. Just… be careful. Don't let your guard down, not even inside of the village. You have an ability to oversee everything… use it."

Gaara's eyes widened a bit. Sakura had never openly shown any concern for him – not that he thought he needed it – and it slightly took him by surprise. Her words about the Akatsuki seemed thoughtless at first, but there was a glint in her eye that made him reconsider it to be a warning. Gaara finally nodded and Sakura waved one last time before closing the door behind her.

Sakura bit her lip as her feet carried her towards the gates of Suna. She had hoped that the Akatsuki would come after Gaara while she was there, but they hadn't. If her guess was right, they would abduct him in a couple months maybe. At the last moment before she left Suna, she'd wanted to tell him _everything_ she knew about his abduction, but she couldn't.

Sakura had long ago decided that she couldn't tell Gaara anything. She trusted him as much as she trusted Naruto, but she also knew that he had an incorruptible commitment to his village. If she told him about the Akatuski and all the knowledge she had, if she told him about her time travel… he would _know_ that Danzo had no idea about any of it – he would not have sent someone like her on a mission to improve a foreign hospital otherwise. What kind of explanation would she have for telling _him_ about it but not her own Kage? If he were to know that Danzo was unreliable and corrupt, negotiations between Suna and Konoha would be damned for sure. The second option was for Gaara to conclude that Danzo was working _with_ the Akatsuki, which was far worse. The Kazekage was a good person, but he was smart and careful and he would definitely not take a risk in trusting someone – well, untrustworthy.

It had been a difficult decision and it had plagued Sakura for _weeks_ when she arrived. But she couldn't risk raising any suspicions on Gaara's side, because he would definitely throw the peace treaty out the window. So, first of all, Sakura had decided to help at the hospital and do _no_ research whatsoever regarding her real mission. Sakura had been Tsunade's apprentice _and_ had known Gaara in her past life, so she knew quite a lot about Suna's inner and outer politics. She was certain that she had enough knowledge to write an extensive and believable report about how Suna was not suspicious at all.

Besides, she didn't want to risk the relation between Suna and Konoha. Knowing how paranoid Danzo could get – the Uchiha massacre was a clear indication of that – he might make a stupid decision and fuck the future Alliance even further. Of course, Sakura intended for that Alliance not to be _ever_ needed in the first place, and that was her other concern.

 _That_ had been the other decision and the toughest one. While being in Suna, Sakura had decided that she only had three options. The first was to go out to find the Akatsuki and ditch her mission, with all the consequences that it implied. The second option was to try to do something from _within_ Suna, which carried a high risk of being exposed and little chance of actually getting anything done. And the third one was… simply stay in Suna and _wait_.

The third option made her bones chill in fear; she didn't want to _wait_ any longer. However, she knew that it was only impatience which was pushing her to act right away. Sakura was certain that with Kakashi's help she would be able to do much more after going back to Konoha. She might even be able to find someone else to help out. Doing everything on her own from _Suna_ of all places – an environment she wasn't too used to – carried a much higher risk.

Also, Sakura had made some mental calculations and had decided that the war would roughly start in a year and a half, so she still had that amount of time do to something about it. It was plenty of time, it would have to be enough for her to do everything in secret from Konoha. If things went badly and she found herself stuck… then she would have to risk everything and tell everyone – including Danzo – the truth about herself.

 **-x-**

If there was one thing Sakura had missed since she arrived in Suna – apart from her close people – it was the _green_. Damn. Suna barely had some succulent plants and some cacti, but it was definitely not the lush green of Konoha's trees. Ever since the scenery had changed, Sakura couldn't help but take in deep breath and enjoy the air humidity along with the clear scent of wet soil. It was something she had always liked, but had never guessed she would miss so much. It smelled like home.

As the gates of Konoha appeared in front of her, Sakura felt her heart beat faster. She was _ecstasic_ and scared at the same time. The imminent meeting of the ones she held dear and the looming finding of what had become of Konoha were making her anxious. As she got to the main gates, she felt the unmistakable presence of Shikamaru at the guarding post. She smiled and looked up, waving cheerily.

"Sakura, huh?" his lazy voice spoke from the inside. "I can't believe two years passed already."

"Hey. I have a message from Temari."

" _Ugh._ That woman." Shikamaru groaned, but Sakura saw the way he curiously glanced at her. He obviously wanted to know about the blond kunoichi.

"Oh, if you don't want to hear it it's all right." Sakura shrugged.

"Nah, just tell me. She'll give me an earful if I don't listen to her message."

Sakura smirked and felt like teasing him a bit more. "Maybe some other time, I'm pretty tired right now."

As she walked into the village she heard Shikamaru's faint complaints about 'why even bring it up if she won't say a thing'. However, Sakura's mind immediately started assessing her surroundings. It was past sunset and most people were home by now, but there was a faint difference in the way that people behaved. It was only slight, but Sakura saw the way they sometimes looked over their shoulder or how their body was generally tenser than what would've been expected. It was not much, but Sakura was certain by that alone that something had changed. And it had not only affected shinobi, but civilians as well. Apart from that, her war-sharpened sensing abilities allowed her to locate several ANBU level shinobi in town, which were hidden and watching everything intently.

Things certainly didn't seem like they were before she left. But Sakura had to admit that she'd expected worse from Danzo. She had honestly believed that she would come back in the middle of a curfew and to find out that there were countless political prisoners. Then again, Sakura had _just_ gotten there and there still might be a lot she didn't know.

Sakura wanted to go see her parents _so badly_ , but she knew that shinobi were always expected to immediately report to the Hokage after a mission. Sakura walked down the streets and soon was in front of the Hokage Tower. She frowned upon seeing a regular chunin guarding the entrance instead of an ANBU, who turned to look at her as she stopped in front of the main doors.

"State your business."

"I need to report to Danzo-sama."

"But why are you _here_?" he squinted his eyes.

"I-eh… Is he not here?" Sakura's frown deepened. "I was on a two year mission and just came back."

" _Oh._ " His eyes slightly widened and he nodded in understanding. "Danzo-sama's office is no longer located here. You can find him in the old bunker next to the Hokage Mountain from now on."

"All right, thank you." Sakura smiled politely and then turned around to leave.

So, Danzo had actually moved back to root's quarters. It was most definitely not unexpected, but it still irked her a bit. She did feel like it was a bit disrespectful towards the previous Hokages, given that the tower had been a monumental and iconic building since the founding of the village. Five minutes later, she was only a couple meters away from the entrance – where two ANBU stood in guard – when someone walked out of the door and stopped in front of her. Raven hair, obsidian eyes, pale skin; it was Sasuke.

Sakura's heartbeat became almost erratic as her eyes took in his appearance. His jaw was now broader, his face was slightly thinner and he now was taller than she was. He was wearing plain black ninja pants and a thick dark blue jacket. His hair was the same that she'd last seen it, but somehow shorter and less spiky. His dark eyes shone now with something that seemed serene, almost wise – the barely contained rage from her past life not visible anymore – and his body posture was relaxed. He looked damned _beautiful_. It was not just that he was handsome – because he somehow managed to look better each time she looked at him – but it was also due to the fact that it was _him_ along with all the feelings that he provoked in her. Especially since she was painfully aware of how his whole attention was directed towards her. His eyes scanned her face and form with interest and he finally looked back into her eyes with a small smirk.

"Sakura." His voice was much deeper than she remembered, and it admittedly reminded her of the Sasuke in her previous life. However, it held an edge to it that, while still intense, seemed kinder at the same time. It honestly made shivers go down her spine.

"Sasuke." Sakura smiled at him. She wanted to hug him right there and then, but thought it would be weird considering that it was Sasuke and that there were two ANBU standing right beside them and observing their every move.

"You're here to see Danzo-sama?" he asked and Sakura nodded. "Come, I'll lead the way."

Sakura followed suit and forced her eyes to stay away from his broad shoulders. She scanned the different people inside, the closed doors and the various hallways. It was probably futile to try and make a mental blueprint of the place or try to figure how the security worked, but she needed to at least try to make something of what she saw. She could never be too careful when it came to that man.

Sasuke led her two stories below ground and they soon arrived at a room with double iron hinged doors. He knocked on the door and they were immediately allowed inside.

"I thought you'd already left, Sasuke." Danzo spoke from behind a desk on the far end of the room. At least, that's what Sakura _assumed_ , because she honestly didn't see a thing with the dim lighting. The place truly looked like one of Orochimaru's lairs – like a place straight out of a horror novel – and she wondered if there was a reason why Sasuke always ended up training with a creepy character.

"I found Haruno Sakura at the entrance and led the way for her." Sasuke spoke slowly and his voice radiated confidence and boldness, something Sakura never thought anyone would have in the presence of that man. She dared turn her head to look at Sasuke and was surprised to see that he seemed not at all anxious or scared of Danzo. He truly seemed like any student in the presence of their mentor.

"Oh?" Danzo's voice echoed in the room and Sakura saw his figure rise from his seat. "Haruno, approach."

Sakura gulped and walked closer to him, her footsteps making far too much noise for her liking. She finally stopped a meter away from his desk and slightly bowed. "Danzo-sama."

"Briefly inform me if you found anything in Suna."

"There's nothing suspicious about them, Hokage-sama." Sakura spoke, her eyes trained on the ground under her feet while her head was slightly bowed in a polite manner.

"I'm assuming that you did a thorough investigation if you came to that conclusion with such certainty." Danzo stated. "I expect an exhaustive report on what happened during the past two years. Everything you learned, heard or saw that might be of interest to our village must be written down. It is to be handed personally to _me._ "

"Hai."

"Also, as is custom for shinobi who just returned from long term missions, you will have two weeks off. You are expected to replenish your energies, so you're not allowed to do any kind of work. Not as a shinobi, not as a medic."

"Thank you, Danzo-sama."

"You're dismissed." He waved her off and sat back down.

Sakura walked back to the doors of the office and saw Sasuke nodding once in farewell too. He opened the doors for the both of them and walked with her out of the office. Sakura didn't feel the knot on her throat dissipate until they were out on the streets once again. When she felt the cool night air on her skin again, she exhaled deeply and looked up at Sasuke to see that he was still walking. He seemed to notice her reluctance and looked at her from behind his shoulder.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, honest curiosity shining in his eyes.

"I- uh." Sakura caught up to him and they resumed their way. "Where are we going?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but Sakura remained quiet and he sighed. "I'm walking you home."

"Oh." Sakura said quickly and cursed the warm feeling that built on her cheeks.

As she started walking next to him, she felt her thoughts drift back to the moment she'd seen him interact with Danzo. Sasuke had always been smart and that he was certainly capable of masking his thoughts and emotions. It _did_ appear like he was truly satisfied with being Danzo's student, and it also seemed like Danzo believed it to be true. Danzo and Sasuke had managed to put up a truly believable act. However… was it really an act?

Sakura felt slightly uneasy at the thought that she'd just entertained. If Sasuke truly was a good pretender… then what if he was pretending with her too? Had Danzo washed his brain and he was now pretending with her? Or even worse, what if Sasuke had consciously decided to change his mind about Danzo and taken his side? Would Sasuke be watching over her and inform Danzo of any moves she made against him? Had he been truly keeping in touch with her because she'd asked him and he wanted to? Had Sasuke been writing to her because she didn't trust Danzo? Should she trust Sasuke at this point?

Sakura looked up and noticed that Sasuke was eyeing her curiously. She pushed her thoughts away and spoke up without thinking about the words. "What?"

"You're quiet."

"I-" Sakura swallowed nervously and looked at the ground in front of her. "I was just thinking."

"Did you run into any trouble on your way back?" Sasuke looked at her from the edge of his eye, his face still facing to the front.

"Not at all." Sakura smiled reassuringly, but she still felt uneasy around him. However, she obviously didn't want him to _know_ that she doubted him, so she tried her best to keep a straight face. "It was _hot,_ and cold. And windy. But thankfully I'm home now. I've really come to be grateful for the climate we have in Konoha."

"Naruto visited you a couple months ago." Sasuke stated after a few moments silence and she nodded in confirmation. "How is he doing? That idiot must be having a hard time writing anything more than his name, because I've barely heard from him."

"He was good. He's become strong… and he's grown so much. He now is almost as tall as you are." Sakura smiled and turned to look at Sasuke knowingly. It was obvious that Sasuke had expected Naruto to write to him and felt a slightly frustrated the he hadn't. "He hasn't written to you because he's like every man; too embarrassed to show that he cares about another man. But I _know_ that he cares because he asked about you a lot."

"It's not like I was _upset_ about it or anything." Sasuke mumbled and averted his eyes for a second.

" _Ohh,_ you were just curious."

"Yeah. Just curious."

Sakura laughed at his denial – which was clear as day for the both of them – and turned her face to fully look at him. To her surprise, there was a small smile in his lips and she swore he let out a barely audible chuckle. The way his features light up when he smiled – _even_ when it was small – and how his eyes softened made her feel warm inside. She didn't _know_ if Sasuke was on her side or not… but the fact the he was able to look genuinely animated made her happy.

"What about you? I can imagine that you've become stronger too." Sakura said, trying to keep her feelings at bay. "Danzo doesn't seem like someone to take training easy."

Sasuke snorted. "That's an understatement. At least it's been truly worth the effort."

"Good."

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have a teacher, do you?"

"Not really. But I trained with Gaara every day and studied with an older woman that's _the_ top expert in poisons."

"Studied _with_?"

"Yeah. I taught her medical ninjutsu and she taught me about poisons."

"So _you're_ teaching now?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and smirked teasingly. "Didn't see that coming."

"Yeah. I'm just that good." Sakura grinned. "I'm stronger too."

"Hmm." Sasuke hummed, clearly disbelieving her statement. Sakura thankfully didn't take things personally anymore.

"Maybe we should spar someday."

"You'll to get your ass kicked." Sasuke smirked smugly.

"I'll wipe that smug smirk off your face." Sakura retorted, but there was a soft smile on her lips.

Sasuke looked ahead once again and Sakura mirrored his actions. She realized they'd already gotten to her place and frowned at the prospect of Sasuke leaving already.

"You don't want to come in?"

"No." Sasuke simply said, but after a moment and seeing Sakura biting on her lower lip he added. "It would not be polite to ruin the moment."

"But you've come like a dozen times for dinner - _don't_ think my father didn't write to me about it – and I know they wouldn't mind at all."

" _They've_ insisted to a point that's left me no other choice. Just like _Ino_."

"Whatever you say, Sasuke." Sakura giggled and heard Sasuke grunt as she moved closer to her front door. "So, sparring tomorrow?"

"8 pm." Sasuke said and Sakura nodded in agreement, knowing that Sasuke probably had the rest of the day full.

Sakura knocked on her door and heard Sasuke's footsteps move away from her house.

Sakura was still indecisive about trusting Sasuke. It made her feel a bit guilty about it, but she didn't want to risk anything that might put either of them in danger. Either way, that fact didn't prevent Sakura from enjoying Sasuke's presence and wanting to spend time with him. In fact, in order to make up her mind she would _have_ to spend some time with him. And she was most definitely looking forward to that.

 **A/N: Here it is. This is a transition chapter and nothing** _ **too**_ **important happened. However, I'd like to know what you guys think of what you found out about Sakura's time in Suna.**

 **What about Konoha? Do you think there's more going on or it's just Sakura being paranoid?**

 **Do you think Danzo trusts Sasuke? Or is he suspicious of Sasuke? Of Sakura?**

 **What do you think about Sakura having doubts when it comes to trusting Sasuke the way she used to? Do you think this will have consequences?**

 **I'd like to give a special thanks to my beta MonochromeAce for checking out the chapter in like a couple hours!**

 **I also want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing! It's always so encouraging to hear out what your thoughts are.**


	27. Issues

**CHAPTER 27**

"Raiko Kenka!" Sasuke's shout reached Sakura's ears just as she was turning around to face him once again.

A barricade of weapons was summoned from his forearms and shot at Sakura. She immediately moved away and avoided getting injured. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke's index twitch and she widened her eyes. She ducked just in time for half of his weapons to shoot back and pass above her head. Sakura knew that the weapons would come her way anytime again, but simply smirked and raised her own fingers.

"Chakura no Ito!" she felt her chakra stretch in the blink of an eye and form a thread from her fingertips. As soon as it was attached to Sasuke's weapons she pulled.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he jumped back a couple meters. _Chakra threads!_ Sasuke's three-tomoed sharingan moved rapidly as he read to movements of the weaponry that was now being thrown back at him. He was forced to move out of the way a dozen times before he found an opening to actually make hand signs.

"Fūton: Shinkūha!" Sasuke took a deep breath in and then exhaled.

The weapons were caught in the strong gush of wind and Sakura released the chakra threads, since it would use too much chakra trying to keep them in place. The air had flown at such a high pressure, that the dust on the ground had risen and formed a thick dust cloud.

Sakura lowered her stance. Sasuke's sharingan was fully developed by now, so he could see her even through the dust. However, Sakura was a good sensor, so she closed her eyes and felt her surroundings. She immediately spotted Sasuke's presence, but he seemed to have noticed that she was trying to sense him, because when she did he was already on the move. Sakura sidestepped in the nick of time, _barely_ dodging the blade that Sasuke had aimed at her neck. She took out her kunai and frowned.

"What the hell, Sasuke! You could've killed me."

Sasuke simply smirked. Sakura didn't know if he agreed with her, if he had confidence in her reflexes or if he had confidence in his _own_ ability to stop. It was probably the latter. Sasuke aimed a slash at her and she pushed chakra through her body to increase her speed as much as she could. She ducked then moved forwards and up to meet his blade with her kunai. Both pushed with all their might, but neither backed down. Sakura locked eyes with Sasuke and he smirked again.

Sakura sent chakra to the arm that was holding the kunai and moved a hand back. The lone hand started making hand signs and Sasuke cursed audibly before jumping back again. Sakura did the last one right after Sasuke moved and a swirl of water was casted from her index.

"Suiton: Suiten Hōfutsu!"

Sasuke was almost caught in it, but moved out of its way at the last moment. Thankfully because Sakura would've had to heal him otherwise, given how strong that jutsu was. He managed to stay on his feet, but ended up getting half his clothes wet from the resulting spray of water. As soon as he regained his balance, Sakura was on him with a raised chakra fist. His sharingan must've seen that it had an unusual amount of chakra because he hastily moved out of its way. Sakura quickly started sending punches and kicks, her chakra flowing through her limbs enhancing her speed and her strength. Sasuke's eyes saw her every move and he dodged or deflected her attacks. He must've known that the moment he blocked he would be down for the count.

He finally found an opening and began a series of taijutsu attacks at her. Sakura blocked them skillfully – but just barely – until the both of them jumped back. Sasuke's voice echoed around her and she jerked up in surprise.

"Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!"

Sakura barely escaped the huge amount of flames that had been sent her way, her eyes wide in disbelief. She honestly had never expected Sasuke to use this jutsu at this time, since its destructive force was too great. Then again, she'd been the first to use an A-rank jutsu on him. Sakura landed on a different side of the clearing and eyed Sasuke.

She was panting heavily because this time she'd had to go full out against Sasuke, but he seemed just as tired as she did. She didn't know if she should be more surprised about her own ability because she was fighting on equal level with _Sasuke_ , or _his_ ability to stand up to a twenty-two year old kunoichi that had been through a war. Nonetheless, it was honestly thrilling to spar with someone to this level, an experience that she'd so far only achieved with Gaara in this lifetime.

"I think it's about time we stop." Sakura raised her hands. "Things are escalating too much."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded and moved to the spot where he'd left a bottle of water. He drank it up and then turned to look at Sakura who was drinking from her own bottle a couple meters away from him. "I have to go now."

"I'll stay behind a do some more training. It was good sparring with you."

"Spar again tomorrow, same hour?" Sasuke spoke without looking at her, as he was rearranging his weapon pouch.

"Okay." Sakura frowned after she finished drinking more water. "You went a bit overboard with that last attack though."

"I did, but so did you." Sasuke admitted as he put the bottle away. "You were proving difficult to beat."

"I told you, didn't I?" Sakura felt her lips turn into a smirk. It was half an attempt to act like how she used to, to make sure he didn't suspect that she was wary of him. But it was also an attempt to try and change her unconscious uneasiness around him. "I've become strong."

Sasuke eyed her for a moment, his eyes gaining an intensity that they'd lacked before. Did he know of her distrust or was he just thinking about something else? Sakura stayed silent, expecting some sort of answer. He finally let out a small chuckle and turned around to leave.

"Did you think I was weak?" Sakura asked honestly, wondering if everyone she had sparred this last couple years had been going easy or playing tricks on her. Maybe Sasuke was just too strong? Before she could worry anymore, Sasuke looked at her from over his shoulder and spoke.

"Sakura." One of his eyebrows was raised in disbelief. "You were never weak."

Without another word Sasuke left the training ground and Sakura stayed behind with wide eyes. Hearing Sasuke compliment her abilities was always kind of surprising, given that he had continuously looked down on her in her previous life.

When they'd met earlier that evening, things had been just like the previous day when she'd first seen him after such a long time. He'd been acting as if they hadn't been apart for _two years_ , as if there weren't any unspoken subjects between them. As if Sakura hadn't begged him to be careful around Danzo and to keep his guard up. He hadn't talked about that subject in his letters – which had been obvious given that their correspondence could be seen by root – but he also hadn't said a word about it in person. Did he not want to talk about it with her or did he just not think it was necessary?

The only difference was that Sasuke seemed slightly more relaxed and open around her. Even though that change was something that Sakura had noticed when she'd read his letters before leaving Suna, it still came as a startling difference. Then again, when she looked at him, it didn't _feel_ out of place or fake. It didn't _seem_ as if Sasuke was playing her and trying to make her trust him just to deceive her. She _felt_ his honesty towards her and she felt compelled to believe it all to be true and be happy that it seemed like he wasn't submerged in a sea of anguish. She wanted nothing more than to trust him and still be friends with him.

However, Sakura had been living as a shinobi for almost a decade now and that meant that she had learned to always be overly cautious. She was also aware that she needed to be extra cautious when she knew that her own personal feelings were involved. And, since this time it was about _Sasuke_ , she wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be blinded by how she _felt._

 **-x-**

Sakura had a huge smile on her face as she hastily knocked on the wooden door. Sounds of footsteps followed not long after and her smile widened as the door was opened.

"Yes?" Ino peeked out through the door and jumped in surprise at the sight of her pink haired friend. "Sakura!"

Sakura was pulled into a tight hug and she immediately embraced her blond friend in return. She took in a deep breath and felt her heart fill with joy at the familiar scent of her friend. Ino let go of Sakura and quickly pulled her inside the house.

"I didn't know you were back! When did you arrive?" Ino asked after pushing Sakura down on a sofa.

"I- uhm. Three days ago."

"What?!" Ino screeched and Sakura sighed – she'd been expecting this reaction. "I told you to come right away!"

"You know… I had a _lot_ of laundry to do." Sakura said and Ino raised an eyebrow. "I have been catching up with my parents too."

" _All day long?_ " Ino squinted her eyes suspiciously at Sakura.

"I've… also been meeting with Sasuke for training." Sakura sighed.

"Ha! I figured as much. Only sparring?"

"Well… we ate ramen afterwards once."

"As in a date?" Ino's eyebrows shot up.

"As if." Sakura snorted.

"Oh." Ino sighed and shook her head. "Honestly, forehead. I doubt he has hormones _at all._ I've seen some truly beautiful girls asking him out or blatantly flirting with him – you know, since he's the Hokage's apprentice and the last Uchiha – and he doesn't react. Like, _at all._ "

"Really?" Sakura raised her eyebrows. She'd figured that Sasuke had been with someone in her past life and had assumed that given how things were now, he would at least have a fling or two. She guessed that now he had to be the most sought after man of their generation.

"Yeah. I sometimes wondered if he's into men… but he doesn't seem interested in them either. It's truly as if he didn't even know sex existed, or did but didn't care about it at all. And he's _sixteen_ , which has to be _the_ most hormonal age for boys. Youwill probably have a hard time getting under his skin."

"I know."

"And since I'm such a good friend, I should tell you that you might never get him." Ino frowned.

"I _know._ "

"You should really try to find someone else." Ino scratched her chin as Sakura threw her an annoyed look – it wasn't as if she hadn't tried to forget about Sasuke – but Ino ignored it. "I can usually read people quite well because of the field my family specializes in, but I don't really get him. He's incredibly hard to read."

"It's taken me a long time to see a bit behind his mask." Sakura nodded. "You wrote that you've been spending some time with him."

"Yeah. Like… every other week I see him because he spends some time with Shikamaru. He doesn't seem to like me or Choji as much though. It's more than just tolerating our presence, but he definitely doesn't like us as much as Naruto or you." Ino shrugged. "He barely talks to us… not that he talks that much anyways. Shikamaru is too lazy and he talks only a bit too… maybe that's why they actually get along."

"Well… Sasuke is a bit picky when it comes to letting people in." Sakura sighed in surrender. _That's_ _an understatement._ Sakura quickly assessed her surroundings to make sure they were not being overheard and then spoke indirectly anyways, just in case. "Anyways, he's Danzo-sama's apprentice, so he's probably busy."

"Oh, yes." Ino caught her innuendo immediately. "He usually spends all day inside that bunker training with him or doing whatever it is he does with him. He doesn't usually speak much about it to any of us, but we know that he's busy because we only see him sometimes. He does train with us every now and then with us and plays shogi with Shikamaru."

"Oh, I knew that." Sakura smiled. "He's even beaten him a couple times."

"Really?" Ino's eyes widened and then she smirked. "Shikamaru hadn't told us about that."

"Obviously." Sakura laughed and then looked at Ino for a moment in silence. "Enough about me. How have _you_ been?"

"You already know that I became chunin and that the flower store has been doing fine." Ino scratched her chin and finally snapped her fingers. "I know! About the jutsu."

"What jutsu?"

"You know… the idea you gave me to further develop my clan's Mind Reading Jutsu?"

"Oh! What about it?" Sakura widened her eyes in expectation. If she managed to develop that jutsu, then maybe Danzo could be actually taken out of office.

"We actually found a way to do it. But it might not be as effective as we thought." Ino explained. "You see, the amount of chakra required to do such a technique is enormous. On one part, the person that performs the jutsu will be completely drained of chakra so it'll be too risky to use on the battlefield. On the other hand, we assume that the strain on the target will be extremely high and it would probably be deadly. Nonetheless, it could be a useful jutsu when it comes to convicted criminals that know important information that needs to be analyzed by a group of experts. The Clan is still discussing whether to use it or not because of the risk."

"Oh." Sakura hopes were immediately crushed. There was no way that such a jutsu would be used on a Hokage, even if she managed to make people suspicious about him. The regular Mind Reading Jutsu was not good enough. _If_ Danzo's memories were to be searched by just one person, he would definitely find the way to bypass the system and get away with it.

"I'm sorry." Ino said, a knowing and apologetic look in her eyes. Sakura smiled fondly at her friend; even knowing that Sakura was suspicious of the _Hokage_ of all people, Ino was still trying to help her.

"Don't apologize." Sakura hugged her friend briefly. "I need to go."

"What?! You've been here like… fifteen minutes." Ino frowned.

"I have another appointment, but I promise that I'll come and visit for a longer time another day."

"You better, _Forehead_." Ino scolded as she walked Sakura to the front door, but Sakura could hear the smirk in her voice clearly.

"I'll see you around, _Pig_." Sakura smirked back and took off.

Sakura had truly never planned on visiting Ino in the first place. She'd been on her way to meet Kakashi and had passed by Ino's house. Sakura had felt a bit guilty for not finding time to even say hello and had decided that she had a couple minutes to spare and visit her. However, now she had to move on to her original destination; to meet Kakashi. He had just arrived from a mission yesterday and they had agreed that they couldn't meet inside the village because there were just too many hiding spots for root ANBU. So, they'd settled for training ground 2, which was the only one with scarce enough vegetation that would ensure they wouldn't be overheard.

Sakura soon got to training ground 2 and immediately spotted Kakashi. He was sitting on a medium sized rock, his arms stretched and supporting his weight lazily. His lone eye was already looking at her when she entered the place and she sat down next to her teacher.

"Hey." Sakura said and allowed her sensing ability to scan their surroundings just in case. She paid special attention to the underground. They were alone.

"Hey." Kakashi's lone eye crinkled when he smiled at her. "How was your mission in Suna?"

"I didn't have any trouble." Sakura waved that subject off. "Things have changed in Konoha… but not as much as I had expected. I was honestly expecting worst."

"What exactly have you seen or heard?"

"The first thing I realized when I got here was that civilians and shinobi alike seem to be constantly perturbed and looking over their shoulders. Two days later I was on my way back home from sparring and was stopped by a root ANBU. He asked what I'd been doing out so late at night and I had to explain myself to them. I then told my parents about it and they said that it's a common occurrence."

"It is." Kakashi nodded and sighed. "It was announced that the Akatsuki is trying to enter the village and that they already have spies amongst us. That was almost a year and a half ago and it started only with a couple root patrols around the village. However, it has slowly escalated to the point that people are questioned when going out at night and even small crowds are forced to scatter. Usually they question groups of over 4 or 5 people about their meeting no matter what time of the day, unless they all live in the same house of course."

"That's clearly an overreaction to Akatsuki's movements. That's weird. Why would the Akatsuki target Konoha earlier than in my past life? What changed?"

"It's weird because they're _not_." Kakashi said in anger. "I've found no evidence that the Akatsuki have currently tried to get into Konoha… no more than two years ago at least."

"I don't mean to say that the Akatsuki is not a threat… but it seems to me that something else is going on. In my past life the Akatsuki threat was managed in an offensive way towards them, never in a way that would change the way the village works on the inside. In fact, back then ordinary people probably didn't even know about the Akatsuki until Pain attacked."

" _Danzo_ is what's going on." Kakashi growled. "He's been constantly planting fear and doubt across the whole village – shinobi and civilians alike. That bastard has _slowly_ convinced people that it's all right to have them constantly watched because of an international threat that's currently not that much of a threat – to _Danzo's_ knowledge at least. Who knows, maybe he's actually aware of what the Akatsuki is doing. But I think that the reason he's keeping people afraid is something else entirely. I haven't known of _one_ successful mission to attack or try to track the Akatsuki. They all seem to be following empty leads… and I'm honestly not buying any of it."

"If you think about it, the fact that he's spreading fear throughout the village is enough proof that something's up. What's the use of making civilians afraid of a threat they would _never_ be able to stand against on their own? There _isn't_. Civilians can't do _anything_ about it." Sakura hissed. "However, fear is a powerful thing in a whole different way. I experienced it first hand during the war… refugees and people who had lost their homes were willing to accept anything to be safe." _But they all ended up dying anyways…_

"I've seen it too. Fear is like a disease of the mind that can be masterfully used if people don't have their guards up. People who are afraid will accept anything as long as they're promised safety." Kakashi frowned and tapped his finger on his knee. "But that doesn't _mean_ that the threat is nonexistent. You of all people know that."

"I do. But think about it. What better excuse for becoming a tyrant in your village than an _actual_ international criminal organization? Dictators usually arise from crisis. So if there wasn't such crisis, Danzo had to create one or use it in his favor." Sakura clicked her tongue and scowled. "It's _ridiculous_! All of that energy should be put into tracking the Akatsuki and bringing them down, not spy on our own. It's so insane that I wonder how no one has said anything about it."

"I told you, didn't I?" Kakashi sighed. "It was done _slowly._ In fact, if you look around, things aren't _that_ bad yet. It has all been done in a way that has seemed to escalate with sightings and threats – which I still haven't found proof of. It's been believable to everyone and it's allowed people to change their minds and accept it."

"I understand." Sakura combed her hair with her fingers and bit her lip before speaking. "Damn. Danzo has been truly smart about this whole thing. If he were to act like a dictator the first day in office, people would've probably never accepted it. Damn, probably the rest of us shinobi would've tried to take him down."

"Exactly." Kakashi sighed. "Almost everyone seems to agree with how things have changed here. I was suspicious of Danzo long before he became Hokage, and hearing your story only made me more wary of him. It's helped me to clearly see all his moves and interpret or at least doubt Danzo's version of events. But not everyone questions his policies and agenda. In fact, I would say that almost every civilian is on Danzo's side by now… I assume that there have to be some who disagree but must be afraid that they'd be pointed out as spies. On our side, only some of the most experienced and intelligent shinobi don't buy his whole set up, but we're too few to try anything. The rest… I've heard them say that they _do_ think it's a bit much, but that they're willing to risk anything for the village's safety."

Silence stretched for almost a whole minute. Both of them were engrossed in their thoughts and worries. Sakura was truly in despair about everything and felt her heartbeat get faster by the second. She finally bit her lower lip and spoke. "We _have_ to do something."

"We _can't_ do anything about it, Sakura. It's too risky and the Akatuski still need to be dealt with."

"We could try to find some intel about him… something… maybe make it viral. Spread sheets on the streets. I don't know…" Sakura clenched her fists. "But I fear that things will only get worse if we don't do something."

"They probably will. But remember what your real mission is." Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. "Danzo will die someday and someone else will become Hokage in his stead. However, if the Juubi comes to life…"

" _I know_!" Sakura snapped in an almost vehement way. She soon realized her actions, took a deep breath in and then exhaled slowly. When she _finally_ managed to stop her hands from shaking she spoke again "Iknow."

"We need to focus on that for now." Kakashi eyed her with slight concern, but kept speaking nonetheless. "During these two years I've gathered some intel on the sightings of the Akatuski in other nations. They've obtained some of the tailed beasts already. I also have some probable hideouts pinpointed thanks to some reports of places they've been regularly spotted. I thought that maybe you already knew of this stuff from your past life, but I still have everything in a sealed file. You should take a look at it so that we can set up a plan of action."

"I… yes. You're right." Sakura forced herself to nod. The thought of _actually_ planing to go back to the place where the tailed beasts were gathered made her almost nauseous. The memories that came with it didn't allow her to think clearly.

"What about you?" Kakashi broke her out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"How much did you manage to do while in Suna?"

"I…" Sakura suddenly felt petrified. Ashamed and afraid of Kakashi's reaction. She looked at him in the eye hesitantly and then turned her eyes to the ground beneath her feet. She fisted the hem of her shirt and played with it nervously. "Damn… I…"

"Sakura." Kakashi's steely voice made her jump and she reluctantly raised her eyes to meet his stare. He seemed calm, but his eyes were boring into her with such intensity that Sakura felt like hiding under a rock. "Don't tell me you did _nothing_."

Sakura tightly closed her eyes and bit her lip. Her hands were shaking again and she had to clasp them together to prevent it from getting worse. The thought of Kakashi confronting her about not doing anything in Suna was eating her away. She'd been through _so much_ in her previous life; so much devastation, so much fear and pain. Why was something like _this_ affecting her so deeply? She _had_ decided to not do anything for a completely plausible reason, right? However, something did not seem right with her at the moment. Her shaking only got more intense and her breathing was almost erratic.

 _Why am I feeling like this?!_

" _Sakura_." Kakashi's almost broken voice brought her back – she wasn't sure if it was desperation or anger – as he shook her shoulder forcefully. "Your time in Suna was the _one_ chance to actually get something done! Do you think Danzo will simply allow you to stroll out of here and have a _talk_ to the Akatsuki without a reason?! It was two _damned_ years! You could've _easily_ found way to leave for an hour or two, or send a message, or a clone. I know it held some risk, but you _knew_ that the risk was much higher here in Konoha. How come you didn't-"

" _I don't know!_ " Sakura raised her voice only a bit, barely stopping herself from yelling and giving away their location to root ANBU. Her hands clenched Kakashi's shoulders tightly and she felt tears pool in her eyes. "I don't know. I don't know. _' ._ "

By now her whole body was tensed to the point that every muscle was aching. Sakura clenched her eyes shut and felt the hot tears stream down her cheeks. She felt Kakashi's demeanor change and his hand came to rest on her shoulder – this time kindly – and he drew soothing circles on them. It somehow worked and she managed to calm down after a couple minutes.

"Sakura." Kakashi spoke, his voice softer and calmer too. Sakura looked up at him with a frown, not truly understanding what had happened to her. "I know what's wrong with you."

"W-what?" she stammered and wiped her tears away.

"I saw it a couple times while working in ANBU and after the third war." He explained. "Especially traumatic cases had a great resistance when it came to facing situations that were similar to the trauma. They needed a lot of support and help to get through it."

"But Kakashi… I've been around for _four_ years. This is the first time that I've felt like this."

"Until now you were only faced with things that didn't directly relate to the fourth war and the Juubi." Kakashi raised his finger. "Take Orochimaru as an example. He was responsible for taking Sasuke away, but he was already dead by the time the war started, right? Itachi and Kisame coming to find Naruto supposedly happened much earlier than the war in your previous life as well, so it wouldn't affect you as much even though they _are_ part of the Akatsuki. On the other hand, Danzo becoming Hokage was something that happened at the beginning of the war, so your reaction to that was stronger than it should've been."

"And now that I'm faced with the prospect of meeting Obito… it's getting much worse." Sakura admitted.

"Don't you honestly think that you could've done at least something while you were in Suna?"

"I… I probably could've."

"I can imagine that you found a perfectly plausible reason for waiting." Kakashi said and Sakura nodded. "But if you think about it logically… there is no larger risk than doing nothing. The closer we get to the start of the war, the more difficult it gets to try to stop it. Especially since events are no longer the same as they were in your original timeline."

"You're right." Sakura sighed. It was true. She'd found an excuse to do nothing. "I… I'm so sorry."

"I don't blame you Sakura." Kakashi said softly. "You went through... practically an apocalypse. You saw everyone dear to you die… not just them, but _every living person_. You were surrounded by death, and you were famished for a whole _year._ You were isolated, afraid, in pain, in grief and trying to find survivors restlessly. It's more than any of us has gone through. And you went through all of that on your own." Kakashi put his hand on Sakura's shoulder. "And then you suddenly found yourself back in a time where everything was still all right. Where your precious people were still alive. Where you were safe…"

"Oh…" Sakura felt her voice break and she covered her face with trembling fingers.

"But when you came back you had no one to rely on, no one to talk to. You had to bury all of the memories deep inside you. Bury all of those feelings that were hunting you and pretend they didn't exist. You _had_ to pretend that you could to this… because there was no other choice." Kakashi's arm circled around Sakura's shoulders and pulled her closer in a hug. He felt her body shake against his. "But Sakura, you're still human. Even shinobi are still human and _not_ killing machines. Of _course_ you would unconsciously cope with it through trying to avoid facing such a scenario again… find a reason to why it was ok to delay everything over and over again. I understand why you did what you did. Damn, I probably would've broken down a long time ago. I maybe would've handled things much worse. You've been truly strong, Sakura, but no one can stay strong forever in _these_ conditions."

Sakura sobbed into her hands. Kakashi was _right._ He was so damn right. She'd been feeling like a ticking bomb all this time… fearing the looming threat of the fourth war but not finding the courage to take real action against it. She'd been so comfortable with her new life… so safe. She hadn't wanted to feel that terrifying angst again. But it had all been something unconscious, because she was _aware_ that she could not afford to be weak, to be afraid. She had tried to make it reasonable to delay the unavoidable.

"You see, Sakura. This is exactly the feeling that Danzo is using against people. Everyone is willing to oversee things just to feel a little safer. It's a natural coping mechanism. Everyone goes through this after a trauma… and they usually get professional help." Kakashi sighed. "The sad thing is… you will have to pull through this on your own – with my support, yes, but I don't think I'll be the same as a professional. I really would love to tell you to go on a vacation, get some rest, make use of as much time as needed to get better. But you have to get a hold of yourself soon, because I _need_ your help to do something about the war. I can't do it on my own."

"Dammit… Kakashi." Sakura bit her lip and frowned, sorrow clear in her features. "I promise that I will try… but I don't know if I can do this in such a short amount of time…"

"You'll have to…" Kakashi sighed, but there was understanding in his voice. "We can't go to a professional, because Danzo would find out about it. And we can't allow that to happen, because it would probably end up in someone looking into your memories-"

"-and Danzo would probably kill Sasuke." Sakura rubbed her eyes with her right hand. "He would become too much of a threat to Danzo's position as Hokage. And if in the worst case scenario we can't change Obito's mind…"

"…we _will_ need Sasuke alive to fight him. And preferably on our side." Kakashi said. "About Sasuke. You've met him, right?"

"I've been sparring with him every day since I came back. I still don't know if I trust him though." Sakura frowned and felt her heart clench when voicing her distrust of him. "It's not that I have a _feeling_ that he's become Danzo's pawn, because I don't. I know that he's smart and capable of handling terrifying teachers – I told you about Orochimaru, remember? – but Danzo is exceptional on that matter too; too smart and too cautious."

"I also don't know what to expect." Kakashi honestly said. "I have to say though that I have seen him change too, but it has been too gradual and easy for it to be raw brainwashing. One option is that Sasuke _is_ on Danzo's side, but out of his own accord. The other one is that he has honestly changed for the better after you left."

"Are you leaning towards one option?"

"I think he's all right. You may have not noticed, but I've been looking from the outside since team 7 was formed and I definitely _did_ notice _._ " Kakashi explained. "When team 7 was formed, Sasuke was incredibly reserved and awkward around people. He didn't seem to enjoy anything but training. But in a bit over a year, his whole demeanor changed. He became more open and seemed to tolerate being around other people… and even _enjoy_ yours and Naruto's company."

"You think that two years could be a perfectly reasonable period for Sasuke to change, even if it's just a bit." Sakura noted.

"Yes. I've seen him around Shikamaru a lot… I think they've become friends actually. I've sometimes seen him with other people from your graduation year, but I can't tell if he's comfortable around them." Kakashi said. "He's been making a fair amount of contact with people other than Danzo, so I think that we should truly consider him changing for real."

"I'm glad to hear that you think so."

"Sakura, remember that it's just a hypothesis." Kakashi warned. "Sasuke is incredibly smart, so he might be playing us. He might be putting a whole façade in order to get under our skin because Danzo's ordered him to. You still need to be wary of him."

"Damn…" Sakura looked down. "That's what I fear too."

"You must be careful, Sakura. You're not completely emotionally stable when it comes to your approach to the topic of the war and we can't be sure about Sasuke. You know we can't take any risks until things are dealt with. I recommend that you try to stay calm in regards to Sasuke and Danzo. Be sure that they don't become suspicious, but don't give them your trust; don't push them away or make them your enemy, but don't let them in either. When this whole issue with the Akatsuki has been dealt with we can start looking into our inner village problems."

"Got it."

Sakura voice was steady at her last statement. But she was no fool… at least not in the sense that she didn't know her own personal behavior. Sakura just _knew_ from the moment she'd agreed to Kakashi's advice, that she would never be able to go through with it.

 **A/N: So! There it is. Nothing** _ **too**_ **big happens in this chapter plotwise. However, Sakura's character development gets the most part on this one. It is definitely important that people understand her feelings regarding her mission and her new life. I imagine that many of you haven't stopped to consider the effect her previous life has had on her present one. Damn. Not even Sakura noticed in a conscious way until now.**

 **Anyways, I hope that this chapter has answered some of your questions regarding what happened in Konoha while she was away. Also, you may have noticed how Sakura has actually done** _ **nothing**_ **against the Akatsuki in** _ **four**_ **years – someone even mentioned it to me on a review to chapter 26 and it was quite funny because I had planned on bringing that subject up on this chapter – so now here's an explanation. Of course Sakura would not be able to simply stroll around a go back to the most traumatic event in her life without some unconscious resistance. I don't think anyone would've managed. It even took someone else to figure out her issues regarding the war. Do you think that her trauma and overall reactions were believable?**

 **I'm also interested to know what you thought of Danzo's doing in Konoha. I am** _ **aware**_ **that most writers characterize Danzo as an extremely violent and strict dictator. However, I think that it's mostly not realistic. Tyrants usually rise from great crisis – take Hitler, Mussolini or Pinochet as an example – because otherwise they would most definitely be overthrown right away or at the very least meet great resistance. It has to take the country to be in some deep shit for people to agree. Since Konoha is actually quite prosperous, Danzo can't just simply become a tyrant right away and he needs to slowly convince citizens that there is reason for him to become such a control freak.**

 **This author note was quite long and I wrote it after my beta read the document, so it might contain a couple mistakes. On that note, I would like to thank MonochromeAce for her help with the chapter, as usual!**

 **Reviews are ALWAYS appreciated! Thank you so much for reading!**


	28. Someone unpleasant

**CHAPTER 28**

"Jeez, Sasuke." Sakura raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha in front of her. "If you're gonna keep attacking like that I might have to find a different sparring partner."

"You should thank me." Sasuke smirked. "Besides, who would you spar with? Ino?"

Sakura gaped. "Ino is strong!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Sakura and she rephrased her thoughts. "She's good enough!"

"Is she?"

"She's… not that bad." Sakura frowned, finally giving in; Sasuke had sparred with Ino enough times to know that he and Sakura herself were both way out of her league. It's not like the blonde was _bad_ , because she was certainly chunin level. But Sasuke and Sakura were both jonin level at the very least even though they were officially still chunin - it was still required to have at least three years' experience as a chunin to apply to the jonin exam.

"If you don't push yourself to your limits you won't progress." Sasuke stated and moved to walk back to the village. Sakura followed his lead and began walking next to him.

"I know." Sakura shrugged. "But at least I get to complain, don't I? I can't let you get away with all those A-ranked attacks without at least listening to my ranting."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Sakura's words, but Sakura could read the humor in the gesture. She simply grinned back at him and stretched her back until it cracked. Sakura suddenly noticed that she was hungry and looked at Sasuke for a second. During the two weeks that she'd been in Konoha they'd gotten into the habit of eating something for dinner after sparring. "So, what is it going to be today?"

"Ichiraku's."

Sakura nodded and smiled. The ramen stand always brought back memories of Naruto and Sakura couldn't help but become nostalgic when they both sat down on a stool. Naruto noisily slurping up his ramen was one of the fondest memories Sakura had of him, even if it was about his complete lack of manners. It was some sort of a trademark characteristic of Naruto; the way how completely messy, unorg-

"You're thinking about him." Sasuke's statement interrupted her thoughts.

"How did you know?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"It's written all over your face." Sasuke deadpanned, as if stating the obvious.

"Oh." Sakura smiled and looked down at the ramen that was placed on her plate. "Well… this place reminds me of him. Especially his _characteristic_ way of eating ramen, you know? As if there was no tomorrow; completely disregarding social expectations or pace, movement, and noise. It was almost sweet."

"It was disgusting." Sasuke closed his eyes and lifted one eyebrow, his face serious. "I'd rather not think about his manners while I'm expecting my meal."

"Oh, please _excuse me,_ sir." Sakura smirked and looked at Sasuke from the corner of her eye. She knew that Sasuke would never say it aloud, but he cared about Naruto. "I bet you're just as nostalgic about him as I am."

"Oh, _definitely._ Especially about all that slurping."

Sakura laughed as she eyed him curiously; she honestly enjoyed Sasuke's ironic humor, but it still seemed a bit uncharacteristic. It actually was the kind of humor she would expect from him, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she should expect _any_ kind of humor from him. She was about to say something else but her meal was placed on the tabletop in front of her. She looked up at Ayame and smiled as she slightly nodded her head.

"Thank you." She lifted the chopsticks and began slowly eating her ramen. Sasuke's dinner was served right afterwards and she noticed that he had ordered something else. "Tonkatsu?"

"Aa." He said and began eating his food without another word.

"My father is the best when it comes to cooking Tonkatsu." Sakura smiled. "It's my mother's favorite."

"I _noticed._ " Sasuke grumbled.

"Huh?" Sakura asked after swallowing her ramen. "What do you mean?"

"One out of every three times I was forced to eat at your parents' house they served Tonkatsu."

"Why do you say _forced_." Sakura snorted and tapped her fingers on the wooden surface. "I doubt that they _dragged_ you out of your house."

"They insisted."

"And you just couldn't refuse." Sakura shot back. Sasuke was about to agree with her when he noticed the trap in her statement and groaned instead. "Admit that you wanted to go every time."

"I didn't." he said shorty, without turning to look at her.

"Then why not refuse?" Sakura smirked. "You can't say you're being _forced_ if you don't speak your mind about not wanting to go."

"It wasn't polite."

" _Oh._ " Sakura mockingly put a hand over her lips. "I'd forgotten how much you watch your words around others. You're always _so_ careful about not hurting people's feelings."

"I'm not rude." Sasuke frowned and this time turned his head to fully look at her. He would've been insulted by anyone teasing him like that, but this was Sakura and he could feel the kindness radiating off her as she spoke.

"You're not _insulting_ , but you're definitely blunt about things." Sakura raised a finger and took another bite of her ramen. When she swallowed she added. "So that means that you didn't really despise the idea of eating dinner with my parents."

Sasuke grunted in annoyance and snapped his head back to his meal. He started eating again and Sakura had to stifle a laugh at his stubbornness. She smiled at him fondly though – she found his ways quite endearing – and then spoke again.

"My parents said they wouldn't have minded if you joined us when I first got back." Sakura said and picked another piece of pork with her chopsticks. "They seem to like you a lot."

"Apparently." Sasuke stopped looking at his food and then turned to look at Sakura in the eye for a moment. "How did they react?"

"When I got back?" Sakura asked and he nodded once. "My mother was really happy and hugged me tightly. She said she was so proud of me finishing my first long term mission." Sakura smiled kindly at the memory of her mother's trust and then closed her eyes as she giggled. "My father was really worried and kept asking if I'd had any trouble there or on my way back home. He ended up crying hard and it took me a while to pry him off me."

"I figured." Sasuke chuckled quietly. "No offense, but your father is quite soft."

"No offense taken." Sakura smiled. "My mother is always the most pragmatic and practical, while my father is more emotional and worries a lot. My family has always been out of the ordinary and things are quite flexible because of that. No one is expected to be someone they're not… I really like it."

Sasuke nodded absentmindedly as he looked at the wall in front of him. Sakura wondered if he was comparing her family with his own. The Uchiha's had been known for having quite a rigid structure, especially when it came to gender roles. Before she could think about what she was saying, Sakura opened her mouth.

"Your family was quite different, wasn't it?" Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at the mention of his family and turned his head to face her. Sakura only then noticed that her question might bring up unwanted memories and she waved her hands in front of her defensively. "I'm sorry, you don't have to-"

"They were." Sasuke said as he looked to the front again, which Sakura took as a good sign so she stopped explaining herself. "My clan was considerably conservative, especially my family since they were the head family. They taught me that it was wrong to go against the norm or be different than what the Clan expected you to be. I must admit that your family dynamics put me slightly off the first time, but I got used to it. It seems to be working well for you all, so I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

Sakura nodded as she took another bite of her meal. She faintly noticed that Sasuke had probably spoken this much in one sentence in her presence only a handful of times. She was about to say something else, when another presence walked into Ichiraku's. A presence she knew.

" _Ugh._ " Shikamaru said when he noticed that Sakura was sitting at the stand.

" _Ugh?_ " Sakura questioned with a frown. When she was about to ask him what was wrong with her presence she heard another voice from behind him.

"Forehead!" Ino spoke loudly and grinned widely. "It's so _good_ to see you here! I've been wanting to talk to you for _days_!"

Sakura suddenly realized why Shikamaru had been so bothered by her presence; he probably assumed that Ino wouldn't stop talking now. Ino walked behind the rest of them and sat down next to Sakura animatedly, Choji following to sit next to her. Ino turned to look at her pink haired friend, her eyes widening a bit when she saw Sasuke next to her; she apparently hadn't noticed his presence before.

"Sasuke is here too?" Ino frowned and then sighed in exasperation. " _Great._ Just _great._ "

Sakura's eyes darted back and forth between Ino at one side of her and Sasuke and Shikamaru at the other. Shikamaru had his signature bored expression plastered on his face, while Sasuke was sitting as nonchalantly as ever. However, there was the smallest tug at Sasuke's lips and Sakura wondered if he was amused by the situation.

"Oi, Sakura." Ino said hastily and Sakura faced the blonde once again. "Don't tell me you're on a date right now."

"What? _No._ " she denied, almost chocking on her spit. Why did Ino have to be such a _tease_? Then again, maybe she was saying that to make Sasuke wonder about her in a different way.

" _Good._ " She smirked. "Because I would've _so_ screwed it up right now. Anyways, you won't believe half the stuff I've heard."

And so, Sakura ended up hearing a dozen different stories about people she both knew and had never heard of. Sakura understood why Ino got on Shikamaru's nerves; she truly spoke too much and Shikamaru was probably more comfortable around quiet people. Sakura was not at all a quiet person, but she _definitely_ paled when compared to the Yamanaka. However, despite Sakura being aware that Ino spoke _a lot_ , she didn't really mind. Ino always had this friendly way of speaking about other people's business and it seemed more like small talk than regular ill-intended gossip. Ino just spoke about what she saw or heard but made no judgment about it. It was actually entertaining, like reading a book or seeing a move.

Eventually, Choji started speaking too. Mostly asking Ino questions, but also giving some feedback on things that he'd heard as well. The two of them slowly began a discussion about what methods to use in order to find out how true the stories were. In the end, they ended up bickering about how the other one never listened to what they had to say and was always too stubborn to see the truth in their statements. Sakura inwardly laughed, remembering that Sasuke had wrote to her that the two of them acted like and old married couple.

Sakura noticed how, on her other side, Sasuke and Shikamaru were serenely eating their dinner. At least Shikamaru was, because Sasuke had already finished his own. The both of them were sitting in a relaxed manner and looking ahead, sometimes exchanging a couple words on light subjects. She was surprised to realize how… easy they seemed to be around each other. Actually, it made sense. Sasuke had always been the quiet type, unlike most people their age, while he also was a stubborn person. Oh the other hand, Shikamaru was quiet too, but he disliked conflict. It did make sense that Shikamaru would become friends with Sasuke. Also, the both of them had the same bothered expressions plastered on their faces, probably due to Ino's and Choji's argument. Sakura now understood why Ino was not happy about Sasuke's presence; not only would Shikamaru be making faces as she spoke, but Sasuke would probably too.

Sakura didn't think that Sasuke seemed as close to Shikamaru as he seemed to Naruto, but they appeared to be close enough to be called friends. It made her unconsciously smile at the fact that Sasuke had _actually_ – or maybe apparently – opened up to other people. Maybe it was because of her insistence on it before leaving to Suna. Maybe it was out of his own accord. Maybe it had been Ino's insistence – Sakura's request – that had forced them to actually talk to each other. It was pointless to wonder, because Sakura was happy for him nonetheless. Sasuke had been needing that since forever.

Thankfully, Sakura now felt more at ease around Sasuke. There weren't any awkward silences and she wasn't afraid that he would see her mistrust every second that she spent next to him. Two weeks spending a couple hours a day together had melted her discomfort away. However, the fact that she was going with the flow and acting spontaneously now didn't mean that she _trusted_ him. She was as wary of him as the first day, since she still hadn't found evidence to decide if she should trust him.

Then again, she was _not_ supposed to be trying to figure Sasuke out. Kakashi and she had agreed that she would try to keep things cool with Sasuke. It would work out better to be on his good side if he were to be an enemy and it would also be preferable to not push him away if he were to be on their side. However, trying to figure him out came as a natural thing to her and she sometimes found herself observing him intently, as if that would clear up her worries.

Sakura must've been caught in her musings for a while, because she suddenly realized that Ino, Choji and Shikamaru were leaving. She waved them goodbye and turned to look at Ayame, who was standing in front of her. Sakura handed her the amount of money for her meal and then stood up, as Sasuke mirrored her actions. The two of them started heading back towards the outskirts of the city, where the two of them lived.

"You must be itching to go back to work." Sasuke said after a while of silence.

"You have no idea." Sakura sighed. "I can't bring myself to feel content when I'm being useless. Going back to the hospital will definitely be the highlight of my day."

"Hn." Sasuke said, but there was an edge to his voice. Sakura curiously turned to fully face him and raised her eyebrows. He was frowning slightly, seemingly thinking of something distasteful.

"What?"

"You'll… probably meet someone unpleasant tomorrow." He grumbled.

"Really? Who? Why unpleasant?"

"You'll see. There's no point in explaining it now."

"Oh. Ok." Sakura said and frowned when she noticed that they'd gotten to the crossroads that would separate their paths. "I'll see you around!"

Sasuke lazily waved as he turned to take a right turn and Sakura took the left one. She wondered who that unpleasant person was. Maybe it was a patient? Or maybe some shinobi on guard duty at the hospital? Maybe it was a new nurse? Nonetheless, Sakura was certain that whoever it was, they would not ruin her first day at Konoha's hospital after _two years_ of absence.

 **-x-**

 _It had been such a_ long _time since Sakura had seen a living human being. Probably two months, maybe even more. As she stumbled into a small town – or what was left of it – her eyes widened when she saw a figure sitting against the wall of a small house. There was no way a corpse could remain in such a position, even if the owner had died sitting._

 _Sakura hastily ran towards the person, who turned out to be a middle-aged woman. And she was alive. Sakura felt her chest constrict between feeling elation because she'd found someone alive and worry because of the clear state of malnourishment she was in. Honestly though, Sakura was no better. She needed to regain at least 25% of her body weight to be within healthy levels, but thankfully she had managed to start using her shishou's ability. However, instead of helping her stay young it was renewing the cells of her organs as they decayed from lack of nutrients and protein. Sadly, the woman in front of her didn't have that choice._

 _Sakura quickly shook her awake and was slowly met by deep brown eyes, which were slightly glazed with exhaustion but conscious nonetheless. The woman seemed to frown in confusion and the pink haired medic kneeled in front of her._

" _Hey. I'm Sakura." she spoke softly._

" _How… how can you even move?" the woman – that must've been around forty years old, just like Sakura's mother would've been – spoke with a frown. "You… look just as bad… as I do."_

" _I… I'm a medic." Sakura was somehow not proud to state her profession this time around. Her abilities with chakra could do nothing against starvation… unless it was her own body. It made her feel frustrated, useless and selfish. Of course, Sakura would not have forfeited her life for the woman's – probably not – but at least she would've expected to be able to use her chakra in_ some _way to help. However, just like medic nin couldn't revert chakra exhaustion on someone else, they couldn't replenish nutrients. "I'm strong enough to help you… I'll find some food for you. Just wait right here."_

 _Sakura wasn't sure if there was anything edible around. Ever since the Juubi was released, every ecosystem had been destroyed and she barely saw any flora or fauna anymore. The reckless lust for power, the never ending war and suffering, and the twisted minds that rose from it all had destroyed every ounce of life. Sakura had never been quite a fan of nature, but she now swore she was one. The buildings and mansions that she would come across meant nothing in comparison to being surrounded by life, food and shade. It was ironic how she only understood how important it all was only after it was mostly destroyed._

 _After almost an hour of walking around, Sakura stopped her train of thought when she saw movement on the edge of her vision. She snapped her head just in time to see a middle-sized reptile sneak under a rock. Her eyes widened in shock and she hurried after it, lifting the rock just in time before it crawled into the ground. Her free hand caught its tail and lifted it, then her other hand took a hold of its head in a death grip. She had to make sure she'd avoid getting bitten – many reptilians in that area had poisonous saliva – and thus be forced to waste more energy in extracting the poison._

 _Sakura quickly cut the head off the animal and then hurried back to the place that she'd left the woman. She gathered some firewood, settling it in front of her, and then light it. Sakura swiftly gutted the animal and then took out the useful muscles and organs. Once it was all roasting over the flames, Sakura turned to talk to the silent woman. After about twenty minutes of light conversation about their pasts – as much of a conversation that could be held by two famished women anyways – Sakura found out that the lady had lost her family when the Juubi attacked their village and that she'd been stuck there with a broken leg ever since. Sakura also told her about her time as a Konoha shinobi, and had a feeling that the woman didn't fully trust shinobi._

" _Don't worry." She'd told her. "Konoha shinobi are not criminals."_

 _The woman didn't say anything, but Sakura could see it in her eyes that she didn't fully trust her. The woman had probably eaten nothing for over a month, and almost threw up each time she tried swallowing the heavy meat. It was always hard to rehabilitate someone that hadn't eaten in such a long time._ Especially _without any equipment, medication or help._

 _Sakura stayed with her for some days, and felt like she hadn't felt for the longest time. Kasumi – the woman – and Sakura honestly didn't get along particularly well, but feeling another human's company was more than enough for both. Sakura was thrilled and relieved to have someone by her side, to have someone to talk to. However, things were not looking good for Kasumi; Sakura had found her severely famished a couple days back, but right now she could_ feel _her organs beginning to collapse. To her frustration, it was something that her chakra could not heal when the body was so weak. She wanted Kasumi to eat what was left of the reptile she'd hunted a couple days back. Sadly, the meat had gotten so bad that it became impossible to eat. It had taken on a green aspect and Sakura swore that there were fly eggs somewhere next to the fat._

" _I… I'm not eating that… thing… anymore." Kasumi was refusing to eat. Sakura understood her, she really did. After all, the stench of the meat could now be felt from at least a meter away._

" _I understand. But there's_ nothing _else out there to hunt, or gather. I haven't found anything. It's all_ gone. _" Sakura frowned when the woman didn't answer and simply stared at the fire that Sakura had built to keep them warm through the night. "Kasumi… your body won't be able to take the strain anymore. You'll die if you don't eat anything."_

"… _So be it." She croaked and scoffed, not truly caring about her death anymore._

" _You know… insects are not necessarily harmful to the body." Sakura tried to persuade her. "In fact, they are quite healthy. I've even heard of some far-away cultures that consider them a luxury. Nothing bad would happen to you if you ate."_

" _Nothing..." Kasumi chocked for a moment and Sakura handed her some water. "Nothing good either…" she clenched her eyes shut as she struggled to talk. "There's… nothing else… for us here. I'd rather... die."_

" _We can't just give up! I can't give up on you!" Sakura shook her head. "I had a teacher once, you know? She taught me how important human life was, how important it was to help people have a better life. How important it was to help others heal mentally and physically. It's my_ duty _to help you. I won't just leave you here to die or watch as it happens!"_

" _You… should also know… when to let someone go…" her voice was barely above a whisper by now, but Sakura heard her just fine._

" _Don't say that!" Sakura' eyes were wide in disbelief. "I'm a medic and I have to help you!" The woman said nothing and her eyes simply dropped back to the dusty ground. Sakura felt tears in her eyes and she moved closer to Kasumi to take hold of her hand. "Don't… don't leave me." Sakura's voice broke and he lower lips trembled._

" _I'm sorry…"_

" _I can't be alone again… I won't be able to take it. Someone to spend the days with, no matter how hard it is… makes it all a bit more bearable."_

" _Don't you… see?" Kasumi sought whatever strength was still in her as she spoke again. "We'll… never… regain what we've lost…" Sakura clenched her eyes shut and sobbed audibly as the older woman spoke. "I'd rather meet… my baby girl on… the other side…"_

 _Kasumi was right… there was nothing for them there. All that remained was death and decay. Sakura would never meet someone dear to her again. Eventually, there will come a time when only she remained alive, since she was the only one with an ability to regenerate her body's cells. Sakura had been afraid of that day for so long. Every day that she didn't find any survivors she feared that she might be the last human on earth. Every day that she saw only corpses and human skeletons she was sure that she would never have the pleasure of sharing time with someone of her own species. Damn… even animals would make good company at that moment, but there were also practically none left. However, Sakura was a medic_ and _a shinobi and had accordingly been taught to value life and to never give up._

 _Sakura and Kasumi didn't speak anymore that night. Sakura fell asleep after a couple hours of restlessness and grief. She woke up the next day to find that the morning seemed much more quiet than usual. However, it was not a good kind of quiet, and it made the pink hairs on the back of her neck stick up. Sakura softly sat up and look to the right to see Kasumi lying on the ground. She got closer, a sense of dread filling her as he noticed how unnaturally_ tense _Kasumi's body seemed._

 _When she stopped next to the woman, she noticed that her eyes were lightly open, but dull. Her breathing had stopped altogether and there was a gray tint on her skin. She had died. There was a smile on her face, but instead of making Sakura feel better, it only deepened her misery._

 **-x-**

After speaking with Kakashi over a week ago, she'd decided that she needed to face her memories of the war. She'd so far met with Kakashi twice to talk about what she'd been through in more detail. As she talked to him, more and more memories came back to her. Sakura had been surprised at how many things she'd actually forgotten about that time. She wondered if she usually forgot so many things about her life or if her brain had purposefully locked those memories away because of how much she'd been affected by them.

Along with the memories of the things she'd experienced all those years ago, came the nightmares. They had come almost every night since she'd started remembering her past. It usually had her waking up terrified. She sometimes looked around hastily wondering where she was and only _then_ would she finally remember that she'd gone back in time. However, Sakura still tried to embrace her memories and accept them. She had a feeling that if she didn't make peace with her past – as much as she could – then she would never heal.

Despite that, this particular day could not be spoiled by _anything,_ definitely not a nightmare. Sakura quickly dismissed her confusion and distress. She rushed out of her bed and took a shower, a hummed song not leaving her lips until she was dried and dressed. Sakura ran down the stairs with a wide smile on her lips and cheerfulness seeping off of her.

"I wish I was as enthusiastic about work as you are, honey." Kizashi laughed heartily as he finished preparing his sandwich.

"You _are,_ dad." Sakura rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her lips.

"Oh, no. Not as much."

"You would if you were forced to stay away from your workplace for two whole years."

Kizashi flinched and then hastily nodded. "I definitely would." he turned to Sakura and hugged her tightly. "I'm so happy for you!"

Sakura laughed and patted him on the back. She quickly put a sandwich together and then walked out of the house, eating her breakfast while she was on her way. As she neared the hospital, the excitement started bubbling within her once again.

She wanted to see everyone! She had barely heard from anyone from the hospital ever since she'd left and had continuously wondered how everyone was doing there. She wondered how Konoha's hospital was fairing without her. Her shishou was not there anymore, so she doubted that things were as they would've been if she'd been there. She did expect some improvement though; Shizune was there after all. She was not Tsunade and didn't have her knowledge nor her leadership, but she knew a lot about medical ninjutu and the medical field.

Sakura heartily entered the hallway and smiled at the receptionist. She was happily greeted by her as she turned to the left hallway. Most of the staff that was in the hallway knew Sakura and they all seemed pleased by her return… but Sakura noticed something. The higher ranking the medical staff was, the more tense they seemed. Sakura frowned and wondered if there were some funding issues; she wouldn't put it past Danzo to cut off their hospital's resources to stack up the military shinobi forces _even_ more.

However, Sakura soon decided that that wasn't the case. Each room that she looked into had the latest equipment out there and there were even some technologies that she'd only read about but had never seen until now. Also, the wing that she was walking through had been the oldest one and it had been completely renovated. While the paint on the walls used to be worn out and the lights used to always flicker, the whole place now looked brand new. Apparently, not only had the funding not been cut, but it had been notoriously increased instead.

Sakura frowned at that thought. It didn't make any sense. Tsunade had always thought of healthcare as one of the most important duties of a village. She always used to say _'If the people aren't healthy, then they are not happy, then they can't work properly and they will complain. The most important pillar for inner stability is healthcare.'_ And yet, this hospital seemed to be in much better shape than Tsunade's. Sakura truly doubted that Danzo would cut funding from somewhere else – she had _seen_ _firsthand_ how impossible it had been back in her time to do such a thing – and put it into the health system. Where had all the money come from?

Also, if the hospital was not lacking any funding, what was it that had most of the high-ranked staff so rigid? It _could_ be fear of the Akatsuki attacking, but it seemed like a stronger stress than what she'd seen in the rest of the village. Sakura frowned as she walked down another hallway towards the administration. Sakura was surprised to see Shizune walking down her way, who smiled widely when she saw the pinkette.

"Sakura-chan!" she walked faster and stopped right in front of her. "It's good to see you back."

"It's good to be back." Sakura smiled back and then swirled her finger around. "This place is looking quite good. All high-tech."

"Oh, yes." Shizune smiled honestly, but Sakura didn't miss that there were barely concealed bags under her eyes. "Danzo-sama has been a real help on that matter. He seems to consider healthcare an important part of the village's responsibilities."

"Huh?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, not quite believing it, but she kept her face blunt. "That's good to hear. Anyways, I'm here to see the head medic."

"Oh, he's in his office." Shizune pointed backwards, to the room that once used to be Tsunade's.

"Thanks!" Sakura waved and walked past her, deciding to momentarily disregard the exhausted look on her former friend. She noticed that the door to the office was open, so she quietly poked her head in when she was at the door.

However, Sakura was not prepared for what she saw. The black haired head medic that she'd known before leaving for Suna was not sitting in the black leather chair. In his stead, there was a much younger man – probably a bit over twenty – sitting with his legs crossed as he read through some medical reports. His hair was long and tied in a low ponytail, its color a silvery gray that she could never _possibly_ forget. His eyes were black and he wore a pair of old fashioned glasses - glasses that she had wanted to break more than once in her previous life. In her mind, she still remembered him as some sort of chimera that had been born out of Orochimaru's corpse instead of the normal young man in front of her. Nonetheless, there was _no_ mistaking who he was.

 _Kabuto? What the hell?!_

Sakura couldn't hide the shock from appearing in her features. Her whole body froze as she stared into the office with eyes wide as plates. Her jaw was clenched and her hands had tightened into fists. Kabuto didn't seem to acknowledge the new presence at his door, but Sakura was certain that he knew he had company. To her dismay – or maybe relief – he didn't appear to have any interest in talking to the newcomer. Sakura finally gathered herself and was about to take a step back when he spoke up, his eyes never leaving the papers in his hand.

"Is there something that you want?"

"I-" Sakura gulped and forced the trembling in her voice to calm down. "I just got back from Suna… I thought I'd come by and announce my return."

Kabuto's eyebrows slowly rose and his eyes shot at her suddenly, interest written all over his face. As soon as he saw her, his lips morphed into a toothy grin – which Sakura was a _hundred_ percent certain was fake – and he stood up.

"Oh, yes, yes." He nodded resolutely as he took two steps towards her. "I've heard so much about Haruno Sakura, the genius medic." Without notice, his arm shot up and took a strong hold of Sakura's hand and shook it in greeting. "Please to meet you, I'm Yakushi Kabuto. I've been head of the hospital for a year and a half, so you probably didn't know about me."

Sakura had the almost unbearable urge to slap his hand away and punch his face, but she forced a smile of her own and gulped down the nausea that threatened to rise up her throat. When he finally released her hand, she inwardly sighed in relief at the notion that the bastard was no longer touching her. She fucking hated him so much after all that he'd done in her past life and because of how twisted she knew he was.

"Take a seat." Kabuto signaled to the smaller armchair that was on the opposite side of the desk.

In a split second, Sakura decided that she couldn't make any sudden moves and that she had to be very cautious. She immediately complied with his request and took a seat in front of him. Kabuto slowly laid down on the desk the report he'd been reading, his eyes never leaving Sakura.

"Tell me about Suna."

"Their biggest problem was that their medical staff was not properly trained and that they needed to re-organize the way their hospital worked. The different specialties were in the wrong wings of the building and positioned in a way that they didn't make good use of the general facilities." Sakura answered swiftly. "It took a long time to get things running on their own, but I believe that their health system will only continue to improve."

"And you did all of this by yourself?"

"Hai."

"I've heard that you never had a teacher."

"It's true." Sakura nodded, knowing that there was no use in lying because everyone at the hospital knew her story. "I was first interested in the medical field a couple years before graduating from the academy. I had excellent chakra control, so I figured I could give it a try. So… I started reading a lot and then began applying my abilities on injured animals and then on myself."

"Impressive." Kabuto nodded, his glasses glinting with interest as he eyed her. "I'm sure that you will be a great addition to us. For now, I want you to work in the emergency wing, where you will treat urgent cases and help the other medics in there. I know it sounds a bit mundane for someone with _your_ abilities, but you don't need to worry. I will soon put you up to something _much_ more interesting and that will take your full potential into account. You can go back to work now."

Sakura nodded in agreement and forced her pace to remain calm as she walked out of the office and into the hallway. As her feet carried her to the emergency room, dread filled her mind and her lower stomach clenched in angst.

Sakura didn't know _how come_ that Kabuto was still in Konoha at this point. Then again, that wasn't too unexpected given that he'd not been around when Orochimaru attacked two and a half years ago. Moreover, _how the hell_ he'd become head of the hospital. The head of the hospital had always been appointed by the Hokage ever since the founding of the village. No matter how ruthless Danzo was, Sakura could not bring herself to imagine _why_ he would put a lunatic in that position.

No matter what reason she tried to find for it, there was no way that it would be good. It was definitely not good for the village and it was _most definitely_ not good for her. Sakura was suddenly not only worried about working under Kabuto, but also about that _much_ more interesting work he was planning to give her was.

If instead of hurrying out of Kabuto's office she'd stopped to take a glimpse behind her, she would've seen Kabuto's lips forming a malicious smirk.

 **A/N: OK. So, here it is. I know that the first part of the chapter was not too eventful, but I thought that it was necessary to see how Sasuke acted around Sakura and the others. He's changed a bit – you can see how he actually manages to keep a conversation, even if he'd not the one doing most of the talking – but he still is not too different from what he used to be. Obviously, this is only making things more difficult for Sakura when it comes to figuring him out.**

 **Also,** _ **KABUTO**_ **. What do you think about that? What are Kabuto's intentions? What is his relationship with Danzo? I'd love to hear what you're thinking in relation to that.**

 **Thank you all so much for reading! And extra thanks to those who review! I really appreciate it!**

 **Special thanks to my beta MonochromeAce for her help!**


	29. Carried Away

**CHAPTER 29**

Working at the hospital the last couple weeks had not been as bad as Sakura had expected. She had been mostly at the emergency room and with her hands full. She'd caught a glimpse of Kabuto twice and had moved away to remain unnoticed between patients or other health professionals until he left. She was glad that she had been able to avoid him, but she was well aware that she wouldn't be able to keep that up for long.

At least, after almost a month in Konoha, Sakura _finally_ managed to pull off a good enough mission report from her time in Suna. She had tried her best to make it as believable as possible, highlighting Suna's potential so that Danzo would not even consider breaking their alliance. In the end, the whole mission report summed a total of _two hundred_ pages of handwritten intel and observations.

Sakura happily walked towards Danzo's bunker with her huge report under her arm. Her eyes came upon – for the umpteenth time – the new face of Danzo on the Hokage mountain… which was in the exact place where her shishou's face had been in her past life. Sakura repressed a scowl at the sight and then decided to just focus on the task at hand.

She entered the huge bunker and walked down the hallways until she was standing in front of Danzo's office. Sakura hadn't been in his presence ever since she came back to Konoha and wasn't sure she was ready to see him once again. Nonetheless, Sakura knocked on his door without a second thought.

 _Better get through with this as soon as possible._

"Come in." a deep voice echoed from the other side of the door and Sakura opened up to enter. She quickly walked a couple steps into the room, noticing that there were the regular two root ANBU individuals standing on each side of Danzo. She also noted that on a further side of the room was Sasuke, who had apparently been reading a jutsu scroll but now had his eyes focused on her.

"Danzo-sama." Sakura greeted, ignoring the contempt that rose within her.

"State your business, Haruno."

"Hai." Sakura nodded once. "I've finished the report of my mission to Suna. I've been as thorough as possible and included every detail that I considered could make an impression on what they're doing." Sakura stopped for a moment and wondered if Danzo would even read it. She considered this for a moment, and decided to add an opinion of her own. "If I may, sir. After all the time I spent there, I really think that Suna is a beneficial alliance to Konoha. On top of all the intel I gathered, the Kazekage seems to be someone who wants to establish long term peace and-"

"Leave the report on my desk." Danzo snapped and Sakura immediately shut up and did as he said. Before she could think about leaving, Danzo spoke again. "Too bad that we won't be sure about Suna now."

"S-sir?" Sakura frowned, but felt apprehension build inside of her. What was he even talking about?

"A messenger bird from Suna came yesterday in the afternoon." Danzo said with a straight face. "The Kazekage was abducted by the Akatsuki."

"What?!" Sakura's eyes widened. She _knew_ that this would happen and she had been preparing for that moment. However, she had actually expected Danzo to send a team right away. Actually, she had expected him to send her because of her connections in Suna. She frowned… maybe Danzo had already taken measures without her finding out about that. "Was a team sent?"

"No." Danzo said, his voice low and his eyebrows knitted into a frown. She could tell that he was displeased by the way she was speaking to him.

"Why not?" Sakura barely kept her voice from shaking in anger as she tried to gather herself, forcing the rage down and trying to keep from snapping at Danzo. However, that didn't stop the fear from making her thoughts fuzzy and her heart beat faster. _If Gaara dies because of Danzo's selfishness…_

"I was still not sure about them." Danzo answered. "I was not going to risk Konoha shinobi for an ally that could've actually been a threat."

"Sir…" Sakura clenched her fists. "I _assure_ you that they mean well. They're being honest." she took a deep breath in and looked at Danzo once again. " _Please_ send a team, sir. I volunteer to be a part of it. Just… please."

" _Why_ is it that you're so adamant on helping them?" The muscles on Danzo's face tightened as he narrowed his eyes. He inspected Sakura and she had to bite her lip at the sight; he was truly an intimidating person. "Your village is _not_ Suna. Your loyalites should lie _here._ "

"It's to be expected." Sasuke intervened and Sakura almost jumped in surprise; she'd completely forgotten that he was there. She was honestly relieved to stop being under Danzo's scrutiny for now. "Sakura was there for two years on a mission to establish peace and it would be a waste of two years of her life if everything ended just like that." Sasuke stood up swiftly and walked towards Danzo. Sakura had always known that Sasuke held himself in an exceedingly fearless manner, but she couldn't stop being surprised at how swiftly and confidently he moved and talked around Danzo. "Besides, it could really do more harm than good to make an alliance with another village and deny help on a High Priority Emergency. Not only could Suna hold a grudge against us, but other villages might find out about it and would hinder our possible future interactions. Also, it would be in our best interest to help them out during this moment of need; they'd also be in debt with us."

By now, Danzo was completely ignoring Sakura and eyeing Sasuke intensely. Sakura squirmed in her place. Would Danzo react badly because of Sasuke's interruption? She couldn't help but be slightly afraid for him, but at the same time she tried to appease herself. After all, Sasuke had been on his own with Danzo for over two years and surely knew how to handle himself.

"I never said I intended on not sending any help." Danzo said and a smirk appeared on his lips. "It would indeed be a bad move to not help them now. However." Danzo's eyes trailed back to Sakura. "I would like for my shinobi to answer on their own."

Sakura gulped. Danzo had clearly been wanting to see how she answered. She didn't know if it was because he was slightly suspicious about Sakura – he always was suspicious about everyone anyways – or because he had simply wanted to see how she would manage such a situation. He had obviously disliked the way she'd talked to him. Before Sakura could even try to utter 'Hai', Danzo turned his head to look back at Sasuke and then spoke up with an authoritative voice.

"Sasuke. Since your own teammate is _volunteering_ for this mission, I'll assign Team Kakashi for retrieving the Kazekage." Danzo said as he stood up and handed a folder to Sasuke. "It will work in your favor that Haruno knows her way around Suna and the people who live there. This mission will be A-ranked, might even be S-ranked. I expect the three of you to complete it effectively. Hatake Kakashi will be in charge of this mission, so find him and hand him the folder. I will send a second team that you're familiar with and they will probably be an hour or so behind you."

"Hai!" the two of them answered and moved to walk out of Danzo's office.

"And Haruno." Danzo said and Sakura froze just as she'd reached the double doors. "Mind your mouth when you're in my presence."

"Hai!" Sakura swiftly turned around and bowed lowly, her body tensing at the knowledge that she'd angered him. She truly needed to be more careful. "Forgive me, sir!"

Danzo jerked his head towards the open door, signaling that she was to go, and Sakura immediately left. As soon as the door shut behind them, Sakura exhaled in relief. Being in the presence of that man was something she doubted that she would ever become used to. As she walked down the hallway next to Sasuke, she suddenly felt his eyes on her. She knew he wanted to say something about what had happened in the office, but she was not in the mood so she ignored him – as much as she could anyways.

Her mind was occupied by thoughts of Gaara. The messenger bird had arrived the day _before_ and they were only going to set off now. They were incredibly late. In her past life, Team Kakashi had been sent a whole 18 hours earlier. Would they make it now? Would Gaara die for real this time? She couldn't get rid of the knot that had built in her stomach. Just as they got to the ground floor and entered the entrance hall, Sasuke spoke up and pulled her from her worries.

" _Seriously_?" there was an annoyed edge in Sasuke's voice.

"What…?" Sakura didn't look at him and walked past the doors and out to the street.

"Is _that_ how you handle yourself in front of the Hokage?" Sasuke's hand grabbed Sakura's forearm, expecting her to stop and look at him. She did and she was met with the unexpected view of Sasuke's stern but worried eyes. He wasn't really angry at her… he'd been afraid that she would get into a bigger mess. When Sasuke noticed that she wasn't saying anything else, he spoke once again – his voice not aggressive but still serious. "You're smarter than that, Sakura."

"I… I know. I'm…" Sakura frowned. Sasuke was right. She _did_ know how to behave in a more composed and level headed manner. Somehow, Danzo's presence along with her concern about Gaara hadn't allowed her to react properly. She understood why Sasuke was not pleased with her and she was honestly slightly impressed by how he always managed to keep his composure. She finally sighed and admitted softly. "I'm just worried."

"Hey." Sasuke squeezed her arm softly for a moment before letting her go. His voice was softer than previously and she could tell that he was trying to reassure her. She was proven right when he later added "He'll be fine. We'll find him."

"I… thank you." Sakura felt a small smile tug on her lips. His gesture had actually helped her relax even if a little.

"I'll go notify Kakashi, let's meet at the gates in an hour."

"Thanks." Sakura nodded at him and he waved once before leaving her sight.

Sakura immediately went home, forcing all of her worries out of her mind as she packed her travelling pack and her medical supplies. She was more than aware that she could not afford to lose focus and leave something behind. She double-checked that she had what she usually needed and triple-checked that she'd put the antidotes in her medical pouch. She hadn't been preparing those vials – or trying to remember their composition from back in her past life – during so many hours for nothing. As soon as she was ready she walked down to the first floor of her house and found her mother in the living room. Sakura swallowed the lump that had been on her throat ever since her encounter with Danzo and immediately put on a calm and happy façade.

"You're leaving on a mission, Sakura?" Mebuki asked.

"Yeah. I probably won't be back for a week."

"You seem tense." Her mother noted. Sakura flinched and then dropped the act. No matter how hard she tried, nothing ever got past her mother. She seemed to know Sakura's every gesture and note the slightest anomaly in her behavior and body posture. Was it like that with all mothers or was Sakura's a particularly perceptive one? "Is it a difficult mission?"

"…A-rank." Sakura said, purposefully hiding the fact that it was most likely S-ranked. There was no point in making her mother worry more than she already would.

Mebuki was not one to worry easily. Sakura had learned that she had an uncanny ability to trust in her daughters abilities and decisions, something that had only gotten more apparent ever since she travelled back in time – which was no wonder given that she acted like a now twenty two year old woman instead of a teenage girl. So, when Sakura saw the faint frown on her mother's expression, she felt her heart drop to her stomach. She could handle her father being worried, but her mother being worried only made Sakura feel worse about it.

"I see." Mebuki's eyes focused on the floor and she exhaled softly. "Be careful."

"I will. Don't worry, mom." Sakura gave her mother a short and tight hug before running out the door and towards the gates.

When she got there, she found that she was the first one. It made her stomach churn in anticipation and impatience. Sakura frowned as she clenched and unclenched her fists as she stepped around in circles. Her mind started whirling around, imagining all the possible scenarios in which Gaara died _permanently_ and she blamed herself her whole life for it.

It's not that Sakura hadn't _anticipated_ this day would come, because she'd known for sure that it would. However, since she hadn't been in Suna at the time she'd had no choice but to let things happen. Despite that, she had at least expected Danzo to send someone out there as soon as the message arrived. …Now that she thought about it, why had she assumed such a thing? Sakura had never thought of Danzo as a selfless person and she was pretty sure that there was no ounce of gentleness inside of him. Sakura knew that there hadn't been much she could've done without raising suspicion – something that with her luck she'd probably managed anyways – but she still couldn't help but feel _useless_. Useless because she'd _known_ about the attack but hadn't been able to say a thing. Useless because she had not done anything to encourage Danzo to take action earlier. Useless because Gaara was in danger and she was _standing around_ at the gates of Konoha.

Every five seconds, Sakura would glance back into the village and huff in exasperation.

 _Damn! Where are they? They better hurry!_

Sakura felt the urge to run out of there and fetch her team mates at once. However and despite her anxiousness, she was able to realize that she was _actually_ over reacting. Sadly, there was not much she could do about it when worry was eating her alive. Soon enough – only five minutes after she'd arrived – Sasuke and Kakashi flash-stepped in front of her.

"What took you so long?" she asked with barely hidden annoyance.

"We were supposed to meet half an hour from now, Sakura." Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but Sakura simply frowned in return. She was obviously in too much of a hurry to actually care about anything else. "I already briefed Kakashi on our mission and he read the folder Danzo-sama handed to us."

"Good." Sakura said and shortly nodded once at Kakashi in greeting. "Let's go then."

Sakura didn't wait for their reply as she turned around and ran out of the village. The rest of her team followed, Kakashi with rolled eyes and a sweat drop on his temple. Sasuke didn't seem particularly bothered by her actions, and simply followed without another word.

Sasuke had known Sakura ever since they were twelve and he'd seen her going through all kinds of situations. He liked to think that he knew her well enough. And it was truly something when she reacted like that. He had only seen it a handful of times; when Orochimaru was after them in the forest of death, when she snapped at Naruto after Tsunade's death, and just before she left to Suna on her long term mission.

Sasuke threw her a couple glances as they dashed through the trees on Konoha's lush green forests. He noticed that she was looking ahead with a lost look in her eyes, barely acknowledging her surroundings. Her face was blank and void of any expressions, and Sasuke immediately knew what was in her mind. If she were to be worrying or imagining future scenarios there would be a small frown on her face – at the very least. So, given the lack of expression, the only plausible reason he could think was for her to be remembering something.

Sasuke assumed that she was thinking about the Kazekage. He could tell that she'd become close to Gaara – he still didn't know _how_ close though – and assumed that her edgy demeanor would remain intact during the whole mission. Sasuke hated to think this way, because he could relate to what she was feeling. But her emotions may prove to be an issue, because it could put all three of them in danger.

 **-x-**

" _Sakura."_

 _Gaara's voice greeted her without turning around to see if it was actually her, since he probably could recognize her presence while asleep. The young Kazekage was sitting on top of the tower and looking down at Suna, that was currently covered by the red light of dusk. Sakura quietly approached him and sat down at his side. After a couple moments she decided to take a look at him. She was surprised to notice that there was an unusual softness in his eyes and that it seemed almost vulnerable instead of gentle._

" _What happened?"_

" _It's… village issues." Gaara answered without meeting her eyes. There had been an unspoken rule of never speaking about their respective villages' issues ever since they met. It had somehow made it easier for them to not take any gambles when it came to their responsibilities to their respective homes._

" _Gaara." Sakura spoke softly and her hand came to rest on his shoulder. "I can tell that there's more to it. If you want to talk about it… you can trust me, you know? "_

 _Gaara stayed silent for a long while, his eyes taking in the scenery of his hometown. Sakura looked at him for another moment and then finally decide to simply sit by his side in silent support. She had assumed that he wouldn't speak about what was on his mind, but she was wrong. After a good two minutes of silence, Gaara spoke once again._

" _It's the council." His voice was small, almost a whisper. Probably afraid that he would be overheard and that the council would give him another headache. "They're… not fond of me."_

" _It's because of the Shukaku, isn't it?" Sakura voiced out her guess in an equally faint voice. They had talked about the beast a couple times before, so it was not an uncomfortable subject between them._

" _It is." Gaara sighed, his troubling expression deepening after admitting what it was all about. "After almost two years of leadership, I've come to realize that I'm_ not _the leader of this village. It's just… a façade. The council doesn't trust me. They are afraid of me and probably hate me. I'm positive that they only allowed me to become Kazekage so that they could keep me under a tighter surveillance."_

" _Maybe that's true…" Sakura trailed off. "But you shouldn't let it pull you down. You're still the leader of the village, no matter what they think of you."_

" _I'm not_ truly _the leader. It's all fake!" Gaara scowled and closed his eyes tightly, his hands closing into fists at his sides. "I'm just a puppet for them… they just want the people to be content because of who my father was. Do you know how many times I've tried to make changes or plan programs for our village or our shinobi system? Countless times… and they've been in vain_ each time. _They are not giving me any space to do anything."_

" _You're the Kazekage as far as everyone knows, and if you earn their respect and admiration, the council will have no choice but to acknowledge you as the rightful leader. You have to prove to everyone that you are just as capable of looking after Suna as each Kazekage before you. Prove that you're_ better, _because you are. Prove that you are the rightful leader and then the council will have no choice but to listen to you."_

" _Sakura…" Gaara's eyes softened and his hand softly touched Sakura's for a moment before retreating back. "You're the only one who trusts me like this. Not even my own siblings do. Actually, it's not fair when you talk like this. I feel forced to try even harder when I know you expect so much of me."_

" _I've had an advantage." Sakura waved him off. "I got to know you when you were already Kazekage. It's expected that I would have an easier time trusting you."_

" _No, you didn't." Gaara shook his head and Sakura raised an eyebrow in question. "Back at the chuunin exams. I noticed that, ever since we first met, you hadn't been afraid of me. When you escorted us back to Suna, you were the only person in the whole party who wasn't even the slightest fearful of me. It was a slight difference, but after being around people who feared me all my life it was easy to know. Already back then you seemed to be the only one who saw me as an equal, as a person. It made me actually wonder if I could get to other people as well." Gaara was quiet for a moment. "Why? Why weren't you ever afraid of me?"_

" _I…" Sakura knew that it was mainly because she'd known him from her previous life. However, she was also aware of another reason of why she'd quickly accepted his reality. "I guess it's because I was friends with Naruto already. I guess it helped me not fear the power within you and see beyond the control that the Shukaku had over you."_

" _All of that. You treating me like an equal, trusting me, not fearing me…" Gaara's voice was a hushed whisper by now. "It's meant more than you can imagine."_

 _Sakura smiled and her eyes locked with his. There was a glossy glint in his eyes and Sakura wondered if Gaara was going to cry, but he simply smiled in a genuinely grateful manner and then put one of his arms around her. Sakura simply leaned into his shoulder and sighed in happiness. After a couple minutes, she felt Gaara shuffling next to her and she moved back as he retreated his arm. Sakura watched as he pulled his sleeve upwards and revealed a small thread knotted wrist-band on his wrist. He slowly and carefully removed it, took Sakura's hand and placed it on her open palm._

" _I know that you're leaving in a week... but I think I'm going to give you this now." He said with a small smile on his lips. "It's something that I've been wearing for most of my life and I want you to have it."_

" _What?" Sakura's eyes widened. There was no way Gaara could give her something so meaningful. They were good friends… but to give such a gift… it felt as if Sakura was stealing from him. "I couldn't!"_

" _I want to give this to you."_

" _I…" Sakura frowned for a moment and looked into Gaara's determined eyes. He wanted to give it to her… and she suddenly realized that it would be much more unkind for her to refuse. Deciding that she would actually like having something from him in case they didn't meet for a long time, Sakura accepted the gift as she closed her hand around it. A smile stretched on her lips. "Thanks."_

" _Want me to…?" Gaara motioned at the item on her hand._

" _Oh, yeah! Go ahead."_

 _Sakura stretched her arm forward as Gaara tied the wrist-band around her arm. Gaara seemed deep in thought as he slowly and patiently put it around her own arm. When he finished, Sakura noticed that his hand lingered there wrapped around her wrist for a couple seconds longer than it should have. Despite that, Sakura didn't think about it and enjoyed peaceful atmosphere as much as she could._

 _At that moment she hadn't thought much of it, but when she parted ways with him that day she started speculating. Had the gift truly been a token of their friendship? He had never said it was. Sakura didn't like reading too much into things – something she usually did anyways – but she couldn't help but wonder if it had meant something more to him._

 _There was a lingering feeling that something had remained unsaid that day, but neither Gaara nor her mentioned the gift again._

 **-x-**

Sakura had been worried to death about Gaara. They had taken off a whole 18 hours later than in her previous life, so at first it had seemed impossible for them to reach the Akatsuki and Gaara on time.

The first time Gaara had been abducted, Team 7 had gotten to Suna first and had healed Kankuro before departing once again. Thankfully, this time Chiyo had learned from Sakura how to extract poison with water and chakra, so Sakura wasn't particularly worried about that. Also, Sakura now had something of Gaara's and that it probably would be enough to track down his scent and find the hideout.

The problem was that in her previous life, Chiyo and Naruto had been present while Sasuke hadn't. It didn't only mean that they would have to fight with one less shinobi, but it also meant that the outcome could be different from last time because the Kyuubi was not there at all. It would be safer to have more manpower with them when they encountered the Akatsuki, but Sakura didn't want to risk getting to Gaara too late.

Sakura had been hoping that they would somehow travel faster and get to Suna in time to get reinforcement and go back to Gaara, but she had finally accepted that they simply had _not enough_ time. Actually, Sakura wasn't even sure that they would get there before the extraction ended. After considering all her options for a while, Sakura decided that the best course of action would be to head towards the hideout immediately. As Team Kakashi leapt from tree to tree, she turned her head to the silver haired man.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura called, purposefully adding the suffix in front of Sasuke, and the whole team stopped at once.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked turning to face her.

"I have something of Gaara on me." She took her wrist-band off and gave it to Kakashi. "I think that it should still have some of his scent."

"Let's give it a try." Kakashi said and did a couple hand signs before slamming his hand on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

"Huh? What is it?" Pakkun frowning face appeared after the smoke dissipated. "This better be important because I was in the middle of a meal."

Kakashi started explaining the situation and the Ninken immediately sniffed on the wrist-band. He frowned in confusion and then moved to Sakura and sniffed her too. Sakura assumed that her scent had become mixed with Gaara's and that Pakkun needed to smell her too in order to separate both scents. He moved back towards the item and took in the scent one last time. He finally nodded.

"All right. Let me see if I can find it." Pakkun announced and then took a couple steps back to start sniffing the air around them.

"Sakura." Sasuke's deep voice sounded from behind Sakura and she turned around to look at him. His eyes were boring into her own, but she could see that there was a concerned glint in them. "You should focus more."

"I..." Sakura frowned and tightened her fists. "I know I should. I'm just too worried… I can't help it."

"Emotions shouldn't get in the way of a mission."

"I _know_ that." Sakura barely kept herself from snapping at him, but his eyebrows slightly rose meaning that he could sense her frustration. Sakura knew that Sasuke was right and that he was only pointing it out so that she would have a better performance. She took a deep sigh in to clear her thoughts a bit. She didn't really think that she would be unable to fight though… it was just travel for such a long time that allowed her mind to drift off to her concern. "Don't worry, they won't get in the way when the time comes."

"I found him." Pakkun appeared in front of them before Sasuke could say anything else.

Pakkun took off and swiftly moved through the trees at a fast speed, closely followed by the Konoha shinobi. In a rare moment of clarity, Sakura inwardly wondered why she'd never questioned how come a being with such short legs could run that fast. However, her bliss was soon over when the thought was forgotten and her worries came back.

They leapt through the forest for the rest of the day and Sakura had been drifting in and out of her musings all along. Every once in a while, she would look at Kakashi and Sasuke and then take a moment to sense their surroundings.

When it was soon to be dawn, Sakura allowed her chakra to spread for a moment and almost jumped when she sensed a flicker of chakra just a couple trees ahead. Sakura was aware that things could turn out ugly, but they were too close now and she was sure that the encounter would be inevitable anyways.

Team 7 jumped down into a clearing and they all stopped dead in their tracks. In the middle of a clearing, dressed with a black cloak with read clouds, was Itachi. His posture was relaxed, but his whole attention was clearly directed at them. Sakura felt Kakashi curse under his breath to her right, and could feel Sasuke's shock to her left. Pakkun walked a couple steps back, knowing that a difficult battle would soon engage.

" _Itachi!_ " Sasuke's roared next to Sakura and she frowned. She remembered that Itachi had been a clone in her past life and quickly allowed her chakra to spread. She felt his chakra signature of the Akatsuki member in front of her, but it felt slightly truncated. It was barely different from the one she'd come to know and probably no one would've felt the difference, but Sakura did. It was a clone.

"Little brother." Itachi's low voice was soft when he locked eyes with Sasuke.

The hairs on the back of Sakura stood at how angry Sasuke's chakra felt next to her. Based on Kakashi's shift of posture, he was suddenly also very aware of the younger Uchiha's reaction as well. Sakura's sensitivity on chakra had truly developed a lot ever since the war and she was extremely uncomfortable standing next to Sasuke at this point. One part of her was screaming at her to either run away or attack him, while the more rational one was aware that he was her ally.

Without wasting another second, Sasuke jumped forwards, his hands making signs at huge speed. Three steps later, he was blowing a huge fire ball from between his fingers. Itachi was apparently caught in the attack, but he soon jumped through the flames and aimed a kick at Sasuke, who had been standing to close to the fire.

Sakura immediately jumped into action, and as Sasuke blocked Itachi's attack, she came from behind him with a chakra enhanced punch. Itachi's sharingan caught the unusual amount of energy in her first and he swiftly moved out of the way, simultaneously throwing Sasuke towards Sakura. Sakura's eyes widened and she managed to retreat her fist just in time to avoid cracking Sasuke's ribs, but instead he crashed on her and they almost fell before regaining their footing.

Kakashi had engaged Itachi in a taijutsu battle, both throwing attacks back and forth and their sharingans blazing as they caught each other's movements. However, Sakura could see that Kakashi's movements were slower and he barely dodged some of the attacks, which meant that Itachi would get the upper hand anytime.

Sakura tried to lock eyes with Sasuke, but he didn't seem to be even aware of her presence, his whole attention on his older brother. _Damn it, Sasuke._ Instead, she locked eyes with Kakashi who had just jumped back panting, and he immediately got her message. Sakura took out several senbon out of her pouch and jumped high in the air before throwing them at Itachi, a move which was obviously read by his eyes and was blocked with his kunai. However, Sakura had planned for this to be a mere distraction, and Kakashi was behind Itachi the next second. He aimed a kick as this back, but Itachi managed to turn around in time to block the attack. Despite that, he didn't move in time to remain on his feet and slightly stumbled backwards.

Sasuke took the chance when he saw it and jumped at Itachi as he finished the hand signs.

"Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!"

A huge dragon made of fire was summoned and it started circling around Itachi and Kakashi. Sakura's eyes widened, noting that their sensei was still there. In a split second she molded her chakra into threads, which got stuck to the jonin that had been running away from the flames. Sakura pulled with all her might to get Kakashi away from there in time. Just before she managed to get him out of the ring of fire, Itachi threw a kunai at Kakashi. Sakura's eyes widened; they were too far apart for her to do anything about it and Kakashi was tied up in her chakra threads and wouldn't be able to block it. Thankfully, Kakashi's sharingan read its path and he shifted in order to avoid a fatal wound to his neck. When he managed to land safely next to Sakura – apart from the kunai imbedded deeply into his shoulder – anger bubbled inside of her and she jerked her head towards the younger Uchiha.

" _Sasuke!_ " she snarled. "You almost burnt Kakashi too!"

If Sasuke heard her complain, he didn't give any indication of doing so and instead ran in a circle around the fire dragon. He was clearly trying to take Itachi down at _all_ costs, something that she hadn't seen him do in this timeline. Sakura clenched her fists and spoke to Kakashi without turning to look at him.

"Stay there and don't take that kunai out."

Sakura took off after Sasuke and squinted her eyes in order to see if Itachi was still in there. She saw that the ring of fire had faded on one side and that Sasuke was running into it. Cursing, she followed at top speed and peeked into the enclosed space. Sasuke and Itachi were throwing punches and kicks at top speed, a speed that Sakura knew she wouldn't be able to read in time to respond. After all, she was the only one in there without a sharingan.

Sakura knew what she was supposed to do, but she couldn't do it when Sasuke was in and out of her way constantly. She took out several senbon and held them in between the fingers of one hand. On her other hand, materialized her chakra strings once again and carefully attached them to Sasuke's back. Sakura threw her poison imbedded senbon at Itachi and, just before they reached their target, she pulled Sasuke to the left and away from Itachi.

Itachi's eyes widened at the sudden movement and he moved at a fast speed. However, Sakura had been expecting his speed and had only moved Sasuke away when the needles had been less than a meter away from Itachi, so one of the senbons got stuck in his thigh.

Sasuke landed behind Sakura and she could _feel_ his eyes glaring daggers into her back, because he had obviously not liked being pulled away like that. She blatantly ignored him and ran at Itachi, chakra coating her fists. Sakura was on him in the next second and aimed a punch at his face. She knew he would block – because he was just too fast – and when he did, she twisted her hand and took a hold of his wrist. Her other hand did the same with his other one, chakra flowing carefully through her muscles, making her strength too much for him to break out of her hold. Sakura felt Itachi narrow his eyes at her – because she was most certainly not looking into them – and his hands caught her forearms. She was suddenly flipped around so that he was bending down to her and she was on her knees.

Sakura heard Sasuke running towards them from behind her – and she could feel his chakra flaring in something that no longer seemed angry, but was just as intense – and she decided that it was now or never. Sakura tilted her head upwards in a movement that would've seemed like she was trying to overpower him, and spoke into his ear just loud enough for him to hear.

"I need to talk to you about Madara." Sakura whispered, hoping that the original Itachi would get her message. "Find me on our way back to Konoha."

She assumed that Itachi must've heard her, but he didn't flinch, freeze or give any other indication that he had. Sakura pushed chakra into her legs, stood up and turned them around. Itachi was still holding on to Sakura, but he was now in between her and Sasuke. Sasuke locked eyes with Sakura, understanding clear in them, and he nodded. He then unsheathed a tanto sword that had been strapped to his back and jerked it to his right.

"Chidori Nagashi!" He scowled with barely contained anger and sparks started gathering around his sword.

Itachi's eyes widened when he realized what Sasuke was going to do. He tried to break free from Sakura's hold, but she pushed more chakra into them to keep him in place. When Sasuke was closer, she pushed chakra to her feet and then swirled Itachi around. She let go of him in Sasuke's direction, and Sasuke raised his tanto sword.

Itachi took out a kunai out and slashed along Sasuke's arm, just as he stabbed Itachi's lower stomach with his tanto sword. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock at the fact that he had actually managed to lethally injure Itachi. He then yanked his sword out of his brother and kicked him on the stomach, a low growl emitting from his throat. Itachi landed a couple feet away from Sasuke and Sakura immediately rushed to see him, a sudden and irrational fear that he had been the real one settling in.

"Sakura!" Sasuke called as he ran to her, probably distrusting the fact that Itachi had seemed to fall so easily. He came up from behind her and then looked down at his brother's body… which was _not_ Itachi. "What…?"

"He's a fake." Kakashi said stopping on Sakura's other side and looking at the foreign man's face. "No wonder. He was too easy to beat."

Sakura nodded absentmindedly, her eyes darting between Sasuke and the fake body. Sasuke's eyes were wide and staring down at who should've been his brother. Sakura could _see_ the frustration building up inside of him, tightening the muscles on his face and neck. After a couple seconds of tense silence, Sasuke turned around sharply and violently flung his tanto sword towards the forest.

" _FUCK!_ "

Sakura frowned and turned around to watch Sasuke as he kneeled on the ground. His whole body was tense and he was panting slightly from emotional strain, so Sakura decided not to bother him. She turned towards Kakashi and put her hand on his injured shoulder softly.

"Let me take a look at this."

"Aa."

Kakashi and Sakura sat on the ground and she started healing the muscles that joined his neck and the back of his shoulder. As she healed him, she slowly took out the kunai that was deep in his shoulder, trying to prevent Kakashi from losing any more blood. The both were quiet as she worked on him, their eyes purposefully avoiding Sasuke to give him some privacy. Despite that, Sakura couldn't help but throw a glance or two at him, concerned about his current state of mind.

Obviously, Sasuke would be affected. This had been the first time he'd encountered Itachi ever since the day of Danzo's appointment as Hokage… at least according to Sakura's knowledge. Not just that, but he had probably thought for a moment that he had a chance at killing him. In the end it had turned out to be a mere clone.

"Sakura." Kakashi called out to her. "Leave the wound like that."

"I'm not done."

"I know." Kakashi turned around and took a hold of her wrist. "I can tell that it's a complicated wound and you still have to heal Sasuke. You suffering from chakra exhaustion will not do us any good if we want to get to Gaara in time. I'll be able to move around just fine like this."

Sakura took another look at this half healed wound. It still needed treatment, but it probably wouldn't bleed even if he moved a lot. She finally nodded and stood up, wanting to heal Sasuke next.

"We better set up camp." Kakashi mentioned looking at the red colored sky. "I'll get some firewood."

"Ok."

Sakura walked towards where Sasuke was sitting on the floor. His body seemed now slightly more relaxed than before, his elbows propped on his bent knees. His back was more curved than usual, signaling weariness and surrender. Sakura slowly sat down on his right side, where his injured arm was, and turned to look at his face. His eyes were down cast and there was an unusual shadow under them… he looked defeated.

Sakura looked at his injured arm and decided that Sasuke had been too reckless. She had kind of expected him to, but she was still a bit irked about it. His recklessness had still left their team in a bigger disadvantage for when it came to fight against Sasori and Deidara. If things went wrong and if their injuries got in the way.. maybe Gaara would die. Maybe _they_ would die. Sakura forced the ugly thoughts away, but was not successful and felt nervousness build at the base of her stomach. Deciding that she needed a distraction, she turned to look at Sasuke again.

"Hey." She spoke softly, but he didn't answer. She quietly decided to put her hands on his arm and then allowed her healing chakra to flow into him. They were silent for a while.

"I really thought…" Sasuke trailed off, his voice small.

"I know." Sakura whispered. Another minute of silence passed as she thought over his actions. He had been too reckless and had acted on his own, putting their mission as risk. "If you ever encounter him… you should rely more on your team mates."

"No." Sasuke answered immediately. "I can accept some help… but this is _my_ revenge."

"Sasuke, we just want to help. You can't honestly expect us to stand by and watch you fight an S-class criminal on your own." Sakura frowned.

"Well, I'm not asking for your help." Sasuke clicked his tongue. "For example, you pulling me out of the way with chakra threads was out of place."

" _Out of place_?" Sakura gaped at him; she couldn't believe how proud he was. "I was only pulling you out of the way because I didn't want you to get poisoned!"

"I didn't need you to do that! I didn't need any of you to risk your lives in this fight!" Sasuke glared at the ground, his frustration from the previous events still present.

"This mission was assigned to our _team_ and we're supposed to complete it as a one!" Sakura hissed and her hands unconsciously stopped healing Sasuke's arm. "Besides, it's not all right for _us_ to risk our lives in this fight, but it's all right for _you_ to risk Kakashi's like that?"

"I knew he would get out of there in time."

"You didn't know that, Sasuke." Sakura tried to keep her anger at bay. Not only was her mind filled with worries from their upcoming fight when they got to Gaara. The thought of Sasuke disregarding the lives of his team for his revenge only reminded her of when he'd almost killed Karin in order to get his revenge on Danzo. "If I hadn't intervened he might've gotten caught in the fire jutsu with Itachi."

"I couldn't just let the chance pass." Sasuke snapped and his whole body turned to face Sakura, conflict clear in his demeanor. "This was a risky fight from the start! He was right there!"

"Would you let me die then?"

"…What?" Sasuke's scowl melted from his face and was replaced by confusion.

"Would you let me die if it meant killing Itachi?" Sakura couldn't keep her voice from rising. Her mind filled with the memories of the day that Sasuke had attempted to kill her, the day that he had betrayed his team and lost his sanity over revenge. Was _this_ Sasuke truly that different?

"What the _fuck_ are you talking about, Sakura?!" Sasuke growled.

"What would you have done if Kakashi had gotten lethally injured? Or I had?" Sakura jerked her arm to the side in an annoyed gesture. "Would it have been worth it? And this man wasn't even Itachi!"

"I _know_ that already!"

"You don't get the point!" Sakura snapped. "You're just allowing your feelings to get the best of you! You're endangering the mission!" _And Gaara's survival…_

"How am I supposed to _not_ be emotional about this?! You would _never_ understand!" at this point, Sasuke was uncharacteristically yelling.

"Well, I think that you should learn to follow your own advice." Sakura finished her sentence and then became aware of how she was acting. Her own worries about Gaara – a good friend that might _die_ that day – and her fear of Sasuke turning out just like in her past life had gotten the best of her.

Sakura's shoulders dropped and her eyes softened a bit. Sasuke's eyes were wide as he looked down at her with something that seemed like disbelief and disappointment. Sakura was about to say something else, but Sasuke exhaled loudly in anger before standing up and stomping away from her.

Sakura remained on her sitting position for another minute or two. Her hands ripped up the grass and left it in piles next to her sides. She didn't remember ever having such an argument with Sasuke, and it only deepened her troubles. She finally stood up and walked to where Kakashi had set up camp. The jonin was sitting cross-legged on the ground next to the fire where a couple of fish were cooking. Sasuke was sitting on the other end, his body posture screaming for everyone to leave him alone and his eyes fixated on the fire as he slowly ate his food.

The meal was quiet, tension clear in the air. Sakura wondered if Kakashi had heard their exchange, because he seemed to know that something had happened between the two of them. He said nothing though, probably knowing that he needed to let his students figure it out on their own. After excruciating long minutes, the three of them had finished their dinner. Sakura put the fire out and then offered to take the first watch. Sasuke immediately said that he would take the _last_ watch, which Sakura took as a clear indication that he didn't want to talk to her at all – not even while changing shifts.

When Kakashi and Sasuke were dozing inside their sleeping bags, Sakura wrapped herself tighter in her own. After worrying about Gaara and their upcoming encounter for a while, her mind went over Sasuke's general reaction to the subject of Itachi and his revenge. If that day's events were any evidence, Sasuke was probably not ready to know the truth about the massacre. If he were to find out that Danzo – his _mentor_ – had planned the whole massacre and that his brother was just a pawn… another _victim_ … he would probably lose his mind. She didn't even want to think about what he would do against the Hokage or the village if it came to that.

 **A/N: OK! So here's the chapter. It's the first part of the mission to retrieve the Kazekage… what did you think about it?**

 **What about Danzo? What about Sakura's feelings regarding the kidnapping of Gaara? Her flashback? What about the fight against Itachi? Her argument with Sasuke afterwards? I want to hear** _ **everything**_ **! Your input and support always makes my day!**

 **Anyways, thank you all for reading! And special thanks to MonochromeAce for revising the chapter so fast!**


	30. Sealed Base

**CHAPTER 30**

"Sakura." A hand shook her awake. She sleepily forced one eye open and glanced up to see Kakashi towering over her. "It's already morning."

"Ok. Thanks." Sakura said with a raspy voice, drowsiness still settled in her features. She slowly stretched her body and then stole a glance at Sasuke, who was sitting on the other side of the clearing with his back towards her. It was an unspoken custom for the person on the last watch to wake the rest of the team, but apparently Sasuke still didn't want to talk to her and had asked Kakashi to wake her.

Sakura did her travelling wake-up routine and rolled her sleeping bag and put everything she had into her travelling pack. She then took a gulp of water out of her bottle and stood up. She walked to the center of the clearing, where the fire had been set last night. Sakura sat down next to Kakashi and offered him an energy bar for breakfast. He thanked her quietly and received the food. Sasuke stood up nonchalantly and sat down on the other side of the burnt coal. His eyes were intently looking at the ashes in front of him, avoiding looking at his team mates. Sakura watched him for a moment with a frown, immediately noticing his lousy attitude which meant that he was still upset from their exchange last night. Apart from that she could feel Kakashi's eyes on both of them, a faint hum leaving his lips that Sakura wouldn't have caught if she hadn't been sitting so close to him. After another moment of silence Kakashi suddenly spoke up.

"Both of you." His voice was stern, which only meant that he was talking business. Sasuke and Sakura looked at the jonin with interest. "We have an S-class mission ahead, so you better fix whatever's going on that might ruin our team work."

Before they could say anything else, Kakashi stood up and left the fireplace to put his sleeping bag away. She sighed and stood up to walk closer to where Sasuke was sitting. She stopped on his right and bent her knees to get to his level. She watched him for a moment, expecting him to meet her eyes but he never did, and she sighed.

"You know, Kakashi is right."

"There's nothing to worry about." Sasuke said curtly. "Our team work will be fine as usual."

Sakura noticed how he didn't deny that they weren't on the best of terms, but she definitely realized that he didn't consider their argument as something in need of fixing. Sakura wasn't so sure about that, because Sasuke was still refusing to meet her eyes and that could prove to be fatal when fighting an enemy – teamwork was all about reading your team mates thoughts. Then again, Sasuke was not an easy person to deal with – especially when it came to Itachi – and Sakura decided that trying to talk things now could make everything worse. And if there was something that they _didn't_ have, it was spare time to lose on an endless conversation.

Sakura's eyes trailed towards Sasuke's arm, where his half-healed wound was still visible, and moved her arm to heal him. However, before she could even summon her chakra, Sasuke pulled away from her and left to pack his own stuff. Sakura groaned in frustration at his stubbornness. She was not the most patient person, and seeing Sasuke act like a brat – in vain she tried to remember that he was still sixteen while she was actually twenty-two – had her itching to give him a piece of her mind. However, knowing that Gaara was in need of their help stopped any attempts to do so.

"We need to leave." Sakura almost barked, standing up and walking to her traveling pack. However, she stopped suddenly and turned around harshly when she felt four foreign chakra signatures approaching at a fast rate.

Kakashi and Sasuke seemed to notice that she'd picked up something and they raised their guards. However, before they could scatter around into the trees, Kakashi raised his hand signaling that they weren't in danger. A couple seconds later, the four shinobi landed in front of them.

"Ahhhh! Kakashi-kun! It's good to see your youthful team around here!" Gai sensei flashed a huge toothy grin and made a thumbs-up.

"Ah. Gai." Kakashi greeted with a bored tone and a mocking roll of his eyes. His hand made a quick motion to greet the rest of team Gai.

Sakura quickly greeted Ten-ten, Lee and Neji, while Sasuke simply nodded at them as a gesture. Lee was the most animated amongst them all, maybe expect for his teacher. Gai stepped closer to Kakashi and took another look around.

"Has someone from Suna contacted you?" he asked with a frown. "Why is no one from Suna here?"

Sakura felt her stomach tighten, sadness engulfing her; of course no one from Suna was here. The higher ups had no interest in Gaara and were probably pretty happy that the Jinchuriki had been kidnapped. No person with actual power in that village would ever be worried about their Kazekage. Not even Chiyo, who Sakura had been close to, but had still refused to accept a 'brat' as her Kage. Suddenly it hit her; Chiyo didn't need to want to help _Gaara_ to go their way. Sakura knew that _she_ was a good enough excuse for the old lady, because of how close the two were. Sakura wished for a moment that she'd considered that idea last night, but then decided to stop regretting and start doing something.

"I have a contact in Suna." Sakura said. "Let me send a message… let's just hope that we're still on time."

"That sounds like a plan." Kakashi nodded.

"I need the location though."

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Kakashi invoked Pakkun, who told Sakura the rough location of Gaara's scent.

Sakura immediately wrote it down on a scroll along with a short message to her older friend. Tenten summoned Kamatari, assuring her that the weasel was one of the fastest summons in the Fire Country. Sakura attached the scroll to its neck and then informed the animal where it was supposed to deliver the message. After Kamatari left, Pakkun lead Team Kakashi and Team Gai west.

"We'll arrive to the place in around four hours." The ninken announced.

Sakura's arms tightened firmly at her sides; they would get there just before noon. Sakura remembered exactly at what time of the day Team Kakashi had gotten to Gaara in her past life and it had been sharply at noon. However, she had no certainty that in this time line the events would occur exactly the same way. There was no guarantee that Gaara would still be alive when they got there.

However, even though she'd expected to become increasingly worried as they neared the Akatsuki, Sakura found that she became increasingly focused. Her whole being – body, mind, emotions – were fixated on the task at hand and she was actually itching to get there and fight. She even felt the urge to push forward in advance of the rest of her team, but thankfully knew better than to do that. She would get to the Akatsuki, she would fight Sasori – or whoever tried to top her – and she would _win._ Her eyes were determined and shone with strength as she looked ahead, not once looking at her sides or at the rest of her team.

Sasuke had been avoiding looking at Sakura ever since last night. He had been _so upset_ with her. Sasuke had never been open with his feelings, not one bit and not with anyone. However, if there had been someone that he had actually shared some of his inner turmoil with, it had been Sakura. If there was _someone_ that he had expected to understand his actions, it had been her. The fact that she'd confronted him about them had been unexpected… and the fact that she'd been so straightforward about it had been even more.

However, after years of taking care of himself and living on his own, Sasuke had learned to take a second look at his own actions. He was well aware that he had made a mistake with Kakashi that day and had risked his teacher's life. And afterwards, he had been reckless when facing his brother and had gotten injured. Sasuke knew _all_ of that and had unconsciously decided to talk to his team afterwards, but when the time came he had been so frustrated. The feeling of failure, disappointment and anger had burnt a hole in his chest. When Sakura had walked towards him to heal his arm, he had been relieved to have someone to talk to and let go of his inner disturbance. Contrary to what he had expected, Sakura had decided to talk to him about his mistakes… and that only angered him further. If he had been feeling like shit earlier, her rejection only made his irritation grow.

One part of him was angry with Sakura for not understanding, but another part knew that she was also under a lot of pressure. He didn't know how close Sakura was to this Gaara guy, but apparently they were close enough for her to lose focus. She had been under a lot of stress ever since they'd left Konoha and he had seen how worry had been eating away at her. Sasuke had known that they had both been subject to their strong individual feelings and had been unable to communicate properly. However, the fact that he had been aware of their previous state wouldn't make his pride simply… disappear. When Sakura had approached him that day, he had dismissed her intentions to talk and walked away when she had intended to heal him. The action had left a bitter taste in his mouth and he had inwardly cursed himself for the way he was acting, but he couldn't bring himself to just… approach her and talk about what had happened.

After a long time pondering about whether to look at her or not, he decided to throw her a quick glance. Sakura's face was serious and decisive, her whole body tensed and ready for battle. Her eyes were resolved and her brows were knitted in tenacity. Sasuke felt his own face twist into a frown when he decided that she didn't just seem strong willed… but also reckless. Sakura was usually level headed when it came to fighting and he wondered how she would perform in this state of mind. He couldn't help but worry that she would risk her life without thinking.

Before Sasuke could find a way to approach her and talk to her about it, Pakkun jumped downward to the ground follow by the two teams. Pakkun jerked its head towards a huge rock that was to their right, which had a seal pasted on the middle.

"There he is. Need anything else?" Pakkun asked and, when Kakashi shook his head, the ninken poofed away.

"Alright." Kakashi walked a couple steps closer to the huge rock and pointed at the seal. "I've read about this kind of seal. There must be four identical ones around here and they need to be removed simultaneously."

"Neji, you can find them, right?" Tenten asked and he nodded.

"Byakugan!" Neji awakened his dojutsu and looked around. After half a minute, he had pinpointed the exact location of every seal.

"OK!" Gai made a winning pose and motioned to his team to get closer. "We'll go remove them. Here, take these intercoms so that we make sure to do it at the same time."

Each member of Team Gai received an intercom and Gai gave a fifth one to Kakashi. Team Gai scattered as each team member searched for a seal, while Kakashi put his own earpiece on. He jumped on the rock and stuck one hand and his feet to the surface with chakra.

"I'm in position." He said with one hand on the edge of the paper.

Sasuke looked at Sakura once again. She was in a slightly crouched position and her hands fisted, ready to destroy the rock in front of them. Her eyes were staring intently at the rock in front of them and her jaw was clenched. He wanted to say something now, but he could tell that she wouldn't want to hear anything at that moment.

"What?" Kakashi's eyes widened as he leaned into the intercom.

" _What?_ " Sakura asked.

"They've been ambushed by some… clones." Kakashi answered, jumped to the ground and walked to his team.

"Well, let's go back them up." Sasuke said and started walking followed by Kakashi.

As soon as Sakura recovered from her shock – last time around they had managed to pull the seals before the confrontation – she turned around to follow her team mates. However, a voice interrupted their movements.

"Not so fast, _boy_."

All three members of Team Kakashi sharply turned around and raised their guards. In front of them were two Akatsuki members, who Sakura immediately recognized as Sasori and Deidara. She openly gaped at them while holding her guard in place. How the hell had they gotten there? It was as if they'd… teleported in front of them. Then again, that was not all too unexpected given that Tobi – Obito – had that particular ability. But why were they here? Why had they left the cave? Last time they had been waiting inside next to Gaara's lifeless body. Could it be that…?

"They're buying time." Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"Oh… sharp one, huh?" Deidara smirked. Sakura felt her heartbeat go faster at his corroboration… no way. _Could it be?_

"He's still alive…" her eyes widened.

"Not for much longer though." Deidara smirked.

"Let's just get this done." Sasori groaned in irritation. "I didn't come here to _talk._ "

"O _kaaaay!_ " Deidara jumped high in the air and landed the edge of the clearing.

Team Seven made a formation in a circle, facing their backs to each other and looking towards the outside. Sakura knew what Deidara's abilities were, and it wouldn't do them any good to fight in a closed up space. She looked at Kakashi at the same time that he looked at her from the edge of his eye. She looked at Deidara and made a motion with her hand, signaling that Kakashi needed to fight the blonde with Sasuke somewhere else.

"Sasuke." Kakashi said, immediately understanding her message. "Let's lure the blonde away from here."

"What?" Sasuke looked at Kakashi from over his shoulder. "What about Sakura?"

"She'll stay here and fight the other one." Kakashi said with certainty. He was aware that Sakura was stronger than she looked and he also knew that she had already fought the Akatsuki before. He trusted her if she told him to leave Sasori in her hands. However…

"Fight an S-class criminal _alone_?" Sasuke snapped and fully turned to look at the silver haired man. "Are you kidding me?!"

"You and I are both injured. The best course of action will be for the two of us to fight the blonde somewhere else, while Sakura stays here and fights until backup arrives."

Sakura knew that Kakashi was indirectly blaming Sasuke for their current predicament. After all, it had been because of him that two members of their team were injured. Sasuke clearly noted the subliminal message and she felt him groan next to her. She could feel the doubt radiating off Sasuke. Sakura felt bad for leaving Sasuke and Kakashi half-healed, but she had not gone on this mission as a medic nin. If she'd used up all of her chakra healing them she would've been subject to a quick chakra depletion and thus become a liability. The best option they had was to let Sakura heal the most urgent damage and leave the rest for after the mission was finished.

"Let's go." Kakashi said and jumped towards where Deidara was heading.

Sakura looked at Sasuke, who was still next to her and looking into her eyes intently. There was a deep frown in his face and he was biting his lower lip in doubt. Sakura felt her annoyance and the memory of their previous argument completely fall away at the sight of how worried he seemed. She smiled softly and touched his shoulder lightly.

"I'll be fine." She nodded. "Go finish him quickly and then come back."

Sasuke looked at her for another moment and Sakura swore that she would have to _convince_ him to abide to Kakashi's leadership. Sasuke was stubborn, but he was also responsible when it came to his career as a shinobi, so she honestly didn't know what his reaction would be.

" _Sasuke!_ " Kakashi shouted. Finally, Sasuke sighed in surrender and then determinately looked at her.

"We'll be back soon." He spoke firmly and the words 'you better be alive when we do' went unsaid, but Sakura heard it anyways.

As soon as she nodded in confirmation, Sasuke left the clearing. Sakura had been constantly aware of the third presence, but she could now focus her whole attention on him. Her eyes zeroed on the person in front of her; Sasori. Or, more accurately, the puppet he was inside of; Hiruko. Sakura was deeply grateful that she'd written down all she knew about the Akatsuki members as soon as she travelled back in time… because she honestly wouldn't have remembered everything from such a long time ago. She knew that this would be a difficult fight; Sasori didn't have a body or a chakra system, so poisons, genjutsu, regular weapons and medical ninjutsu didn't affect him.

"I can't believe they're leaving a petty little girl to fight me." Sasori – or Hiruko – growled. "They don't respect me."

"You might be surprised." Sakura smirked as she cracked her knuckles.

"I'll show you your place, brat."

Sakura had expected Sasori to attack right away this time around – Chiyo wasn't there to make him wary after all – so she was ready when he shot up his tail and tried to slash at her repeatedly. She skillfully dodged his attempts until he stopped, probably noticing that that tactic wouldn't work. He suddenly ripped off his mask and shot senbon at her. Sakura easily moved around to dodge all of them, her training with Anko and Sasuke paying off alongside her experience in her past life. If Sakura hadn't been particularly fast in her previous life, she was definitely fast now. Her body moved around in almost a dance as her subconscious remembered her first fight against Sasori.

When his mouth closed and the senbon stopped, Hiruko scowled and launched the wooden piece he had on his right arm. It was shot in a circular path around Sakura and exploded a couple meters away from her. Multiple senbon bombs were shot from it, making Sakura dodge the needles from different angles. In her past life, Chiyo had been adamant on her dodging _every_ attack due to the poison and, if Kankuro's pain was anything to go by, Sakura had proof of how terrible the poison could turn out to be.

"Tch." Sasori seemed annoyed by Sakura's persistence. He was probably upset because he'd had to walk out of the extraction process and was currently missing the show. Sakura _assumed_ that he was missing out on it, because in a best case scenario they would need all members to perform the extraction. However, shinobi were taught to never consider a best case scenario.

"You won't show me any more tricks?" Sakura lured, wanting to end the fight soon.

"You won't get to see half of them."

Thankfully, Sakura was aware of all of his tricks _and_ was now much stronger than the last time she'd fought him. Last time she'd only survived because she'd heavily relied on Chiyo's experience to guide her with the help of chakra threads. Sakura wanted to test her abilities as much as she could against Sasori, who was the first S-class criminal she actually fought for years, but she couldn't. She didn't have time to enjoy the fight, because Gaara's extraction process was still going on inside the cave.

Hiruko used his tail again but Sakura decided to go on the offensive. She leapt towards the puppeteer at top speed, dodging his attempted attacks one after the other. Hiruko shot senbon at her as she did so forcing her to deflect the needles with a kunai. Sakura had to admit that even his base attacks were strong.

Sakura was in front of him soon, but Hiruko jumped away quickly; Sasori must've noticed that Sakura was a good close range fighter. However, before he could move further away, Sakura's index finger twitched and she was propelled forward towards him by a chakra string that she'd attached to his tail while blocking an attack. Hiruko's eyes widened, probably noticing the slight pull at his metallic tail which signaled that Sakura could also use chakra strings.

Sakura was on him the next second and landed a chakra enhanced punch on Hiruko, immediately destroying the doll. She aimed a second chakra enhanced punch at the wreckage, but a hooded Sasori jumped out at the last moment. He moved back a good ten meters and eyed her with slight interest.

"It's been a long time since I last fought with my real body." Sasori admitted with a deadpan voice. "I would've never expected a small girl with _pink_ hair to manage that."

"I know that pink is an unusual hair color." Sakura frowned. "But I can't help but be annoyed by the fact that people keep on underestimating me because of it." _…along with my gender._

"You would be an interesting addition to my collection. Along with one of your friends… then I would have a total of 300 specimens."

"So you turn people into puppets. _Boo-hoo._ " Sakura rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should turn yourself into a puppet. You know…" Sakura smirked. "…since you're such a pretty boy."

"I'm not a _kid,_ you _brat_." Sasori growled.

 _\- neither am I._

Sakura watched him for a moment, the annoyed glint in his eye suddenly not making him look like an S-Class criminal… but a child. Sakura suddenly felt a pang on her chest at the notion that she was going to kill him. She remembered Sasori's story clearly; his parents had died while on a mission and his granny Chiyo had taken him in. His parents' death had struck him so hard that he became lost in puppeteering, which in the end lead him to start making puppets out of real humans. It sounded sick… but if Sakura compared him to the Sasuke in her old life… were they really _that_ different? Sasori wasn't particularly _cruel_ ; he simply didn't mind taking people's lives when he felt like he needed to. He had somehow lost his mind after experiencing such a trauma at a young age. Of course his actions were _wrong_ , but the fact that she herself had loved a borderline psychopathic criminal in her past life suddenly made her look at him with different eyes. He was human too, one who had lost his way, but still human…

"What happened, Sasori?" Sakura said, her eyes softening. "After your parents died."

"What?" His eyes widened slightly at the fact that she knew about that fact.

"I'm friends with your grandmother – Chiyo-chan – you know?" Sakura chuckled. "I know about your past."

"Tch. You know nothing." Sasori glared.

"You're right… I don't." Sakura smiled sadly, remembering how Sasuke used to tell her and Naruto the same thing. "But… why are you here?"

"You know that answer." Sasori said in a monotone, purposefully ignoring the real meaning of her words.

"Why did you leave your home? Chiyo never really forgot about you…" Sakura frowned. "You could've stayed there with people who loved you."

"I don't have to explain myself to you. I didn't come here to talk." He said, irritation seeping of his features. Before Sakura could say anything else, Sasori took out a scroll and made a couple hand signs. In a poof a smoke, a puppet appeared in front of him; the 3rd Kazekage. "You'll get to see my greatest work of art and then you'll die."

"We'll see about that."

The puppet launched at Sakura at lightning speed and she hastily moved out of the way quickly. Sakura had trained against Sasuke's speed every day for a long time, and even then the puppet's speed was almost too much for her. The puppet had the advantage that Sasori could pull the chakra threads any time to make it change directions in the air, while Sakura had to get back to the ground to do the same. In a split second Sakura's eyes widened and she began to jump around the clearing. She landed on many trees all around her and then finally stopped back at the center. Sasori looked at her with a bored expression and the 3rd Kazekage's puppet jumped at her again, this time with the intent to engage in a full-on taijutsu fight.

Sakura smirked and twitched her fingers, her body flying around the clearing just like the puppet did. Her fingers controlling chakra threads that were tied around the trees in the surrounding area and connected to her body. It wasn't exactly the same as controlling a puppet from a faraway distance – she was actually exposed to a real physical risk and her control wasn't as good – but it was definitely enough to counter the puppets attacks. Her left hand was using the chakra threads while her right hand was gripping her kunai tightly to block the puppet's attacks. Sakura also needed to continuously pump chakra into her arms – apart from the chakra she'd been using on the threads – to counter its strength. She would've never imagined a mere puppet to have such _raw_ power; it was like fighting a real jonin.

After a couple minutes of a fruitless taijutsu battle, Sasori had the puppet retreat. His arms suddenly stretched to the side and a _thousand_ wooden hands were summoned from his forearms. Sakura's eyes widened remembering that attack and she immediately braced herself – knowing that it wouldn't to her any good to continuously run away from them. When the immense number of arms fell on her, Sakura used her instincts and senses to move out of the way and avoid getting crushed. The hands landed on the ground and made it crack from the force, but thankfully Sakura managed to stay safe.

Sasori smirked, knowing that there was only a slim chance of her avoiding that attack unharmed. But just to make sure he released another seal, which shot a small bomb at her last known location. A purple toxic smoke quickly surrounded all of the wooden arms. Sasori waited for a moment, wanting to make sure that she would inhale it… but something told him that he would not succeed. He was certain that he would see at least some movement from a struggle if she had been trapped inside – she wouldn't possibly try to wait for someone else to get her out. However, there was no such movement. He frowned and looked around, his eyes quickly pinpointing a small disturbance in the dust that covered the ground a couple meters to his right.

The ground to his right erupted and Sakura jumped out, charging a chakra enhanced punch at the puppet. The 3rd Kazekage was pulled back and Sakura jumped after him, but another barricade of hands shot out to stop her. Sakura instead punched the wooden limbs, successfully destroying most of them. She heard Sasori groan and then saw the puppet open its mouth. _Ah._ Iron Sand.

The iron sand scattered all around the clearing in a matter of seconds, the tiny particles looking like minuscule mosquitoes that shone under the noon sunlight. Sakura bent her knees and narrowed her eyes, making sure that nothing went unnoticed by her. Suddenly, the sand gathered into bigger clumps – around the size of golf balls – and shot at her at a quick speed. The iron bullets were fast and had Sakura completely surrounded; there was definitely no way she could dodge them all. The only way was to block them. Sakura didn't have a chakra shield like Chiyo did, but she did have her earth nature jutsus.

"Doton: Doryūheki!" Sakura finished the hand signs in less than a second and the small earth wall rose just in time to stop the iron bullets.

Sakura jumped around continuously, using the same technique to block the persistent rain of iron sand. She wasn't having much trouble blocking the attacks – thankfully – but she could feel her remaining chakra depleting too quickly for her liking. Sasori seemed to notice this too, because the rain of iron bullets continued. After repeating this method several times, Sakura decided it was time to switch things up a bit. She made a couple hand signs and went underground. Sakura knew she had wasted too much chakra when dealing with the iron bullets – she should've gone underground sooner – and was now feeling a bit low on chakra.

Closing her eyes, Sakura allowed her senses to feel the chakra above her; there were scattered clumps of chakra all around the clearing. She waited for another ten seconds, knowing that Sasori wouldn't want to wait for too long. As she expected, soon Sasori decided to change his plan and the chakra that was imbedded into the sand above her started gathering together. It formed thick pillars above her and they shot right into the ground, becoming deeply imbedded in it. Sakura was grateful that she now had the ability to sense chakra and had been able to move away in time, because otherwise she would've probably been cut in two by the sheer force of the heavy pillars. Sakura jumped out of the ground into the clearing, locking eyes with Sasori.

"You're a sneaky little brat." Sasori scowled.

"I know right? You must be dying to get back in there and take part in what's going on." Sakura didn't feel comfortable joking about Gaara's predicament, but she most definitely didn't want Sasori to know that she was friends with him. It wouldn't do her any good if he used that knowledge against her.

"I _hate_ waiting." Sasori frowned. "I also hate to keep people waiting."

"Then… what are you waiting for?" Sakura shrugged.

The Iron Sand around Sakura shifted and gathered into a huge cube that floated above her. It suddenly shot towards Sakura, but she gathered chakra into her fist and punched it like it was made out of wool. The hundreds of tons that made up the iron cube crashed into the trees that surrounded the clearing and then came back at her. Sakura narrowed her eyes and punched the huge shape into the rock that was blocking the entrance to the cave. The seal barrier protected the huge rock effectively and the iron cube bounced off of it as if it was made of rubber. Sakura knew that it would've been a stretch of her luck, but she couldn't help the frown that appeared on her face.

"Something the matter?" Sasori mocked her disappointed expression.

"You know… this ability would've probably destroyed anyone else." Sakura smirked, deciding to immediately dominate the mindset of the battle – not that Sasori would lose his focus to _that_ ; he was too experienced. "Too bad you're fighting _me_."

"Tch." Sasori raised an eyebrow as her cockiness, but there was _almost_ an amused glint in his eyes. "You're too confident."

A second mass of iron sand formed above the clearing; a huge pyramid. Sakura readied her body to move and gathered more chakra into her fist. She faintly noticed that her movements would soon become slower because of how much chakra she'd used. Her breathing was labored at this point and she was sweating from the strain of the battle. She better finish Sasori off soon… she still had Gaara to deal with inside the cave.

 **-x-**

Sasuke eyed the blonde – whose name was Deidara according to the Bingo Book – that was flying on top of some sort of bird made of mush. As soon as he'd started running after Kakashi, he noticed that Deidara had been keeping his distance, which meant that he was probably a long range fighter.

His suspicions were proved right when the Akatuski dropped tiny little things that Sasuke's and Kakashi's sharingan immediately caught. Both began dodging the tiny balls of what looked like dough and their eyes widened when they started blowing up around them. Thankfully, both shinobi were highly skilled and had quick reactions along with their dojutsus. After a while, Deidara stopped throwing his tiny insect-bombs at them and they gathered to talk for a second.

"Earth Style?" Sasuke whispered.

"Apparently. The problem is that we can't get close to him. Any ideas?" Kakashi asked and the Uchiha nodded.

"It'll take a lot of chakra." Sasuke knew that they needed to get rid of this threat as soon as possible. Kakashi seemed to know that as well and he silently agreed with him. Sasuke made a couple hand signs before screaming. "Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!"

A huge fire dragon was blown from between his fingers and it swirled around in the air, circling around Deidara above them. Deidara's bird twisted around and flew back at high velocity, closely followed by Sasuke's fire dragon. Deidara moved upwards, to the left and to the right, but couldn't shake Sasuke's fire jutsu. He seemed to realize that he didn't have many options, because he finally flew back down towards his enemies. Sasuke was forced to release the jutsu before they burnt everything around them – chances were it would most probably burn someone from Konoha.

As Deidara was in the air and going downwards, he threw more tiny bombs at his opponents. When Deidara was at a closer range – around 10 meters, which was better but still not enough to engage in a close range fight – Kakashi made hand signs at an almost unreadable rate. "Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga!"

Lightning was emitted from his arm and formed into a huge lightning dog that dashed towards Deidara. It crossed in front of Sasuke and Kakashi a couple times, deflecting the tiny bombs away from them. It jumped into a tree to get closer and started jumping at Deidara repeatedly. Deidara barely dodged, not finding a chance to move away from the lightning animal. After dodging a couple times, Deidara finished a couple hand signs and created a huge ball of clay that surrounded the lightning dog and made it disappear. He then looked down at the two Konoha shinobi and smirked.

"Katsu!"

Kakashi's eyes widened when he noticed that there had been a tiny insect-bomb behind a rock right to his left. It exploded and his previously injured shoulder got caught in the outer rim of the explosion, making the wound re-open. Kakashi cursed his lack of attention and looked around once more. He was surprised to see that only that particular insect had exploded, while the ones the lightning dog had deflected hadn't.

Sasuke had already taken the chance and thrown a handful of shuriken towards the trees that were behind the blonde. He moved his hands quickly, pulling a wire that was attached to it, which set into motion a net of wires that had been attached to the shuriken. Deidara looked behind him with wide eyes as he got caught in the wire net. Sasuke immediately sent lightning through the wires and towards the trapped blonde.

Before the lightning could reach him, Deidara's face turned into a strange texture and deformed slightly. When he was electrocuted, it turned out that his body was now made of clay and it melted away. Sasuke looked at the remaining mush and then turned his head towards Kakashi, who was now by his side. They shared a knowing look, both smart enough to quickly catch on to their enemy's weakness.

"You know too." Kakashi pointed out and the Uchiha nodded in confirmation.

"Aa. Lightning."

Before they could say anything else, a voice sounded from Sasuke and Kakashi's right. Both Konoha shinobi turned to face that direction to see Deidara.

"You must be his brother." The Akatsuki lifted an eyebrow as he flew on another clay bird above them.

"You mean…" Sasuke's sharingan narrowed.

"Yes. _Uchiha Itachi_." The blonde scowled. "I can't stand that bastard. He's always looked down on my art."

"You even have his annoying red eyes and the same irritating arrogant behavior. You are just like _him_. "

Sasuke felt his hands tighten in anger. How _dare_ Deidara compare him with Itachi of all people… Itachi was a traitor, the most disloyal person he'd ever known. Sasuke would've never done what he did to his village, to his clan, to his _family._ A deep scowl settled on Sasuke's features and he spat. "I'm _nothing_ like him."

"Ohhh… _touchy_." Deidara laughed in mockery. "You two seem the same to me."

Kakashi decided that they were running out of time and made hand signs again. He would need to summon an incredible amount of water, so he gathered an unusually large amount of chakra. "Suiton: Suijinheki!"

A huge water wall moved towards Deidara, who didn't have time to move out of the way, so his clay bird covered him and protected him from the impact. However, he didn't expect Sasuke to appear at the edge of the giant wall and put his hands on it.

"Chidori!" the Uchiha screamed.

Electricity was conducted through the whole mass of water and covered the clay bird as well. The electric shock lasted only for a second, but as soon as it dispelled the fake bird was rendered useless. It pummeled down towards the ground and broke into smaller useless pieces. Sasuke had been tailing after Deidara as close as the water had allowed him to. He smirked, confirming their theory; his ability was earth natured and rendered useless by lightning. They all knew from that moment that Deidara would be at a bigger disadvantage, even Deidara knew considering the annoyed expression plastered on his face.

"Damn…"

"You're done for." Kakashi announced, coming to a stop next to Sasuke.

"You really seem to hate your brother." The blonde scratched his chin and then smirked, his eyes not leaving Sasuke and completely ignoring Kakashi. "I'll tell you where he is now. His existence has been bugging me for too long anyways."

Kakashi's eyes widened and he turned sharply to look at Sasuke. They all knew that there was a big chance that Deidara's words could be a big fat lie only meant to keep them away from the cave. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the blonde, but couldn't bring himself to deny his offer of intel. Deidara noticed his genuine interest and chuckled.

"He's fifty kilometers northwest from here." Deidara. "But I don't think he'll stay there much longer."

Kakashi didn't waste another second – luring Sasuke like that with Itachi didn't look good when Sakura was expecting their assistance – and jumped at Deidara once again, his hands lightened up by his Raikiri. Deidara narrowed his eyes and jumped out of the way, being smart enough to not dodge backwards where the water was. He jumped above Kakashi, landed closer to Sasuke and dashed into the trees. Sasuke was right behind him, his hands forming seals. In the blink of an eye he was blowing into his fingers.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

A huge ball of fire was casted and followed Deidara, who was forced to jump out of the way to avoid getting burned. Sasuke's eyes closely followed his form and widened when they came upon another enemy presence. A man in an Akatsuki robe that was wearing an orange mask came out from in between the trees and stretched his hand towards Deidara. Apparently by accident, he knocked the blonde out and then hastily caught him. Sasuke narrowed his eyes; he had made it seem like an accident, but his sharingan had caught the exact movement of his wrist and he would bet on his life that it had been on purpose. That masked Akatsuki nin was good.

"Oh! Oops! Deidara-san!" the masked man hurriedly lifted Deidara onto his shoulders. His voice seemed like that of a kid, but Sasuke knew better than to underestimate someone from Akatsuki.

The masked man looked at Sasuke for a moment, and he suddenly felt intimidated. Like the person behind the mask was not a regular shinobi and was much stronger than the Akatsuki they'd been fighting until then. Of course, Sasuke didn't have any proof, but he knew to trust his instincts so he kept his distance until Kakashi arrived.

When Kakashi stopped next to him, Sasuke felt him freeze for a moment. Before either could say anything else, the masked shinobi created some sort of portal behind him and stepped into it at once with Deidara on his shoulder. Before the swirl of space-time distortion disappeared he waved happily at the two shinobi who were still in the forest. Sasuke was surprised that someone out there had the ability to manipulate the space-time continuum. _That's a terrifying ability._

He turned to look at his left and saw that Kakashi seemed… tenser at the sight of the masked man. "Did you know that shinobi?"

"… No." Kakashi answered after a heartbeat of doubt. The jonin looked at Sasuke for a moment and noticed the flicker of doubt in his face, but it soon faded. If Sasuke had found his hesitance strange he had decided to not overthink it. Kakashi looked at the young Uchiha in front of him for another moment, his mind trying to decipher what he was going to do about the intel on Itachi's whereabouts. He finally decided to simply ask him. "What are you going to do?"

Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment and his head snapped to face Kakashi, who felt like he shouldn't have asked anything at all. He could see Sasuke's eyes shine with irritation before he snorted and turned away from him. "I'll see you later."

Before Kakashi could say anything else, Sasuke had already left in a flash. He cursed his own lack of tact and Sasuke's impulsiveness as he took off towards where Sakura was. He once again blamed himself for letting that bomb reopen his shoulder wound, because it was most certainly making him slower. It would probably take him at least a couple extra minutes to get to Sakura because of it.

His heart dropped to his stomach as he worried about both Sakura facing Sasori alone… and Sasuke going to find Itachi on his own. Kakashi just hoped that he had read Sasuke wrong and that he would go help his team mate instead of following his revenge at that moment. Kakashi really wanted to trust his student… but his actions had proved that most of the time he was _not_ a selfless person.

 **A/N: Ok! So… I know I really took a long time to update this chapter (not** _ **that**_ **long, but I usually take only one week per chapter instead of three). A lot happened these past weeks, including me getting sick and then my son too… so for almost a week I had no time at nights to write anything at all.**

 **Anyways, about the chapter:**

 **I used Sasori's name only when he left the puppet he had been using as a shield because I wanted you guys to get the mental picture of Hiruko instead of Sasori.**

 **Also, what do you think about Sasuke's attitude before meeting the Akatsuki?**

 **What did you think of the** _ **fighting**_ **? Was it good? Damn, it took so long to write. I hope you like what I did with it.**

 **What about Sasuke? What is he going to do? Do you think he will leave his team to find Itachi?**

 **I'd like to hear anything that pops into your head when it comes to the chapter or the plot!**

 **Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing!**

 **Also, I want to thank my beta reader MonochromeAce for revising this chapter!**

 **EDIT:**

 **Someone pointed something out on a review and I thought that I might clear it up for everyone just in case. Sakura is NOT using her Yin seal currently. I've always read fanfics where Sakura suddenly has Tsunade's seal technique and no one is suspicious about that. That seems really unrealistic to me, especially given that shinobi village are particularly cautious about not having enemy spies inside.**

 **Ever since chapter one, Sakura has been trying to avoid using her seal as much as possible, because once she uses it there is no turning back and the diamond mark will stay on her forehead. Sakura is being even more careful about that ever since Danzo became Hokage, because there's a big chance that he would want to question her about it… and he would thus find out about Sasuke and well… everything you already know.**

 **This means that Sakura is not using her full strength – she had much more raw strength during the 4** **th** **war – and thus her battle abilities seem not as powerful as they** _ **could**_ **be. Of course she'd still much stronger than she was at her original sixteen without her seal, since she has more experience and other abilities (most of which she sadly can't use against Sasori, like poison and such).**

 **I hope this has cleared any questions regarding this subject!**


	31. The Death of a Friend

**CHAPTER 31**

It had taken Sasuke a moment to realize what Kakashi was talking about when he asked what he was going to do. Somehow, the fact that he was being doubted made anger bubble up inside him. Did Kakashi honestly think that Sasuke would ditch his teammates in the middle of an S-ranked mission to follow Itachi? He didn't deny that the thought was tempting, but he knew that he would forever regret it if Sakura or Kakashi died because of his absence. Apart from that, the lead had been given by _Deidara_ of all people, so Sasuke was inclined to believe the piece of intel to be false.

Sasuke knew that Kakashi couldn't know for sure what his actions would be especially after how he'd reacted the last time Itachi was involved, but he still couldn't help but feel disappointed. Kakashi must've known that the last time Sasuke had been reckless and acted impulsively in Itachi's presence… but that didn't mean that he would _plan_ to leave his team behind. How long had Kakashi been his teacher? Sasuke still remembered his first lesson; those who leave their friends behind are worse than trash. Sasuke had assumed that Kakashi would've understood him, but it seemed that he needed to talk things through with him.

The fact that he had been doubted had Sasuke clenching his teeth and, before Kakashi could say anything else, Sasuke had flash-stepped away from him. He didn't need to see the confusion in his teacher's eyes, who was surely left wondering what his answer had actually meant. Sasuke knew that he should've been clearer, but instead he had left Kakashi in doubt out of spite. Besides, Kakashi's shoulder was injured and it had made him slower during their fight. That meant that he would probably take at least a couple minutes longer than Sasuke to get back, time which he would not lose and risk Sakura getting killed.

Sasuke soon arrived back to where he had last seen Sakura, who was currently punching an enormous pyramid made out of steel. The huge thing smashed against the trees, destroying everything in its path. When he deemed that he would not risk her life by making her lose focus, he jumped into the clearing and landed next to her.

"Sakura!" he notified her of his presence.

"Sasuke!" her eyes quickly looked him over to make sure he was all right. He was fine, but she still frowned in worry. "Where's Kakashi?"

"He'll be here in a minute." Sasuke answered shortly and observed her for another second. She was clearly tired and had probably used up most of her chakra, but she didn't seem to be hurt.

"Good. Don't let him get a scratch on you… he uses a deadly poison." Sakura said and then turned to smirk at Sasori, who must've realized that he would need to finish that battle quickly before the third Konoha nin arrived.

Sasori made a couple hand signs and lifted his hand before speaking. "Satetsu Kaihō."

The huge pyramid and cube made out of Iron Sand gathered in the air and Sakura's eyes widened. The 3rd Kazekage's puppet released a load of chakra and the Iron Sand turned into a mess of something that resembled roots. The roots started spreading at a great speed throughout the clearing, the pattern too tight and dense for it to be avoidable to the common shinobi. Sakura had been dreading this particular ability; the roots spread in an unpredictable manner and she wasn't sure if she would be fast enough to move out of the way at the last second.

Before she could worry anymore, Sasuke was crouching behind her and took a hold of her right thigh while his left arm sneaked around her waist. She was tightly pulled against him and she forced her body to relax to allow easier movement for him. Then Sasuke twisted them around as he dodged the attacks, his sharingan reading the movements of the Iron Sand skillfully. Sakura saw the branches of it stretching around them chaotically, being amazed at Sasuke's ability to dodge despite having known about his competence since long ago. At one point while they were still in the air, a secondary branch shot out towards them. Sakura felt Sasuke tense behind her; they would get pierced by it if they didn't move and they didn't have anything to propel themselves with. She used the chakra strings she'd attached to the trees to move them slightly and out of the way of the attack. Both landed heavily on the floor, their whole bodies tense while checking their surroundings to make sure no more branches were being created.

After the display of almost impossible to dodge attacks Sakura was sure that Sasori would believe they'd been hit. While they were still covered by a dust cloud, Sakura took out a kunai and turned around to face Sasuke who had been lying beside her. She locked eyes with him while her body was only a few inches away from his, perfectly hiding her hands in case Sasori had the chance to see. Sasuke held her gaze for a second before nodding in understanding and she used her kunai to make a small cut on his forearm. She then turned the kunai towards herself and cut her thigh and cheek. Her work was done in a couple seconds and, when the dust cloud had cleared away, her kunai was already in her pouch.

Sakura quickly stood up and Sasuke followed her lead, curiously glancing at what she intended to do. He assumed that she wanted to fake getting poisoned, but he wasn't exactly sure because he had not seen enough of their enemy's abilities. Sasori gave them a once over as Sakura took a couple steps forward. As soon as she did, her whole body froze up and she groaned in faked pain.

"Sakura!" Sasuke called from behind her, desperation in his voice.

Sakura inwardly smirked at how good of an actor he was; she _almost_ felt her heart break at his tone. She pummeled down in front of him with a _thump_ and her body twitched on the floor. Sasuke did his own faking, knowing that since he had less supposed injuries the poison should take a tad longer to take effect. He was soon on the ground next to Sakura with a tense body, but he instead was lying on his side and facing the enemy. Sasuke forced a grimace of pain in his face as he watched Sasori's face twist into a smirk.

Before he could wonder what was going to happen, a sort of puppet he hadn't paid much attention before shot at them. His eyes looked down on Sakura, concern rising within him as it approached with a long scythe on each arm – no doubt to finish them off. Always keeping his pained façade, Sasuke's sharingan kept close track of the puppet as it neared his 'fallen' friend. When the puppet was only a couple meters away from Sakura – at which Sasuke was itching to get up and cut it into pieces – she got to her feet in the blink of an eye. His sharingan could see chakra lightening up her fist, which slammed into the puppets body before it could aim its scythe at her.

Sasori audibly growled when he saw his favorite puppet being smashed by the pink haired girl. Both Konoha shinobi stood up with a smirk and watched him with amusement. He scowled when he saw the Iron Sand dissipate and he then pointed at them.

"How come you're not affected by the poison?"

"Who said these cuts are from your Iron Sand?" Sakura smirked.

Sasori realized his mistake, but didn't dwell on it any further. He lifted his hand and started unbuttoning his Akatsuki cloak slowly. When it hit the floor, he moved his limbs slowly to test them before he used his body during battle.

"It's been a long time since I last used myself."

"What…" Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight before him.

"So… in the end you turned your own body into a puppet." Sakura pointed out what she had already known to be true.

"It's the ultimate weapon." Sasori smirked. "You'll be honored to die by its hand."

"Careful." Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Sasori, his instincts telling him that things were about to get a bit more complicated.

Sakura didn't get to answer, because Sasori stretched his arms in front of him and started shooting fire out of his hands. Sakura and Sasuke started dodging, forcing their bodies to their limit to get out of the way of the fire in time. This time there wasn't any big piles of rubble or rocks to hide behind, so Sakura started making hand signs at lightning speed. When she landed on the ground, her hand slammed on its surface and an earth wall appeared in front of her. Sasuke was hiding behind it the next second.

"He's strong." Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"He is." Sakura bit her lip and tried to look behind the earthen wall, hoping not to get burned. Her eyes came upon Sasori using high pressured water, the geyser of water was shot straight at them and cut the ground in two. "Move!"

Sakura's body slammed into Sasuke's, moving them both out of their hiding spot and barely avoided getting cut in half along with it. She quickly watched Sasori, noticing that he was glaring daggers at Sasuke. Before letting go of the Uchiha, Sakura attached some chakra strings to him, just in case. Both Konoha nin were on their feet immediately afterwards and started jumping around, avoiding the high pressured water. Sakura jumped around in the air, helping herself by pulling the right chakra strings just in time to move. Suddenly, Sasori's water managed to cut a couple of her chakra strings by chance and she was left unaided in the air. Sasori's experienced eyes caught this slight chance and he directed the high pressured water towards Sakura. Her eyes widened in anticipation, wondering if she would be forced to release her seal before the water cut her in two. Thankfully, she felt Sasuke's chakra flicker to her right as he used a tree to propel himself towards her. He caught her roughly and they both escaped from the attack in time.

"Those strings won't be useful anymore." He pointed out.

Sakura didn't say anything, once again amazed at Sasuke's natural talent. He was just sixteen, but he was more skilled than both herself and Kakashi were – and they were both over twenty with vast battle experience.

"You're starting to get annoying, boy." Sasori growled and used his water once again. Sasuke and Sakura were forced to dodge in opposite directions. Sakura dodged the attacks, noticing that it was going back and forth, forcing her away from Sasuke. Her eyes narrowed when Sasori directed his full attention towards the Uchiha. His water aimed to cut at him while at the same time he took out another weapon; an iron cord with a poisoned sharp point. Sakura's eyes widened when it shot at Sasuke while he was still in the air dodging the pressured water. Sakura used the chakra strings to pull Sasuke her way, successfully avoiding the attack.

Sasori didn't waste any more time and the iron cord was sent flying after Sasuke, who widened his eyes. Sakura pulled at her end of the strings and her body was propelled forwards, crossing Sasuke's midway. His eyes widened and met hers for a split second before she passed by him and was next to the iron cord. Her right hand glowed with chakra and took a hold of it in an iron grip, her left hand shooting up and catching the cord right next to the poisoned tip to restrict its movement. However, Sakura didn't expect Sasori to move the cord around and snake it around her left leg. She was pulled towards Sasori at an alarming speed and her eyes widened when she noticed that he was now using his spinning blades and was rushing to meet her half way.

"Sakura!" Sasuke called and started running at her, his heartbeat erratic at the sight of the spinning blades moving increasingly faster. To buy time, he made a few hand sings and shouted. "Fūton: Daitoppa!"

Wind was casted and flew towards Sasori at high speed, changing his course and sending him away from Sakura. However, his cord remained around her leg and he pulled them closer again as soon as the wind stopped. Sakura narrowed her eyes and threw a kunai at Sasori, attaching a chakra thread to him as soon as it was deflected. Sasuke was in front of Sasori the next second, one unsheathed blade in each hand as he blocked the spinning swords with all of his strength. However, he had acted with too little time and one of Sasori's swords slipped along Sasuke's blade and cut his forearm slightly.

"Sasuke!" Sakura's voice echoed through the clearing.

Her finger twitched and Sasori was pulled towards the ground at full force, his puppet body crashing down and breaking apart. Immediately, Sasuke was on Sasori, his blade shining with a charged chidori. It pierced the Akatuski through the middle of his stomach, pinning him to the ground and interfering with his control over his body.

Sakura pulled at the chakra string and pulled herself towards Sasori, charging a fist loaded with chakra. Before she could get any closer, she felt him release the cord around her and then he used chakra to summon hundreds of puppets. Sasuke cursed when his body began to freeze up under the effects of the poison. Sakura twisted around with the momentum she already had and punched the puppets that were in her way. She was next to Sasuke the next second and hastily threw him over her shoulder. Sasori jumped away and increased the distance between them with a sadistic smile.

"How about this, brats?! Only a puppeteer can work against this many enemies!"

Sakura allowed Sasuke to sit on the floor, his body contorting in pain. Sakura felt her heart drop at the sight, but felt reassured by the fact that she was already carrying an antidote. She took it out of her medical pouch and injected it into his arm without wasting one second.

"He's done for, pinky." Sasori's voice spoke up. "There's no antidote for that poison."

Sakura lifted Sasuke off the floor and tied him to her back with chakra strings quickly. His jaw came to rest heavily on her shoulder and he groaned. Sakura immediately started fighting the puppet enemies off while Sasuke recovered on her back. After a couple seconds Sasuke tapped Sakura's shoulder.

"I'm fine." Sasuke whispered into her ear. Sakura nodded and swiftly cut the chakra strings that were trying him to her back. Sasuke jumped off her the next moment and began defending immediately.

"What?! How?!" Sasori's voice echoed through the clearing.

Sasuke and Sakura didn't find the chance to say anything to him, too busy dodging the hundreds of puppets that were attacking them. Their speed and strength was that of a high level chunin, which made it difficult for them to properly defend against so many of them. Sasori was grinning madly, watching the two Konoha shinobi try to fend off his puppets. However, before he could relish anymore on that notion, his eyes widened when he heard a chirping sound behind him. Before he could move out of the way, a hand covered in lightening pierced right through his chest. _Right_ through the box that contained his chakra. Eyeballs practically bulging out of their sockets, he turned his head sharply only to see the third Konoha shinobi behind him. Someone who shouldn't have been aware of his weak point. _How did he know?_

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura beamed when then puppets around her stopped moving and dropped to the ground.

Sasori's puppet body slumped down to the floor as well, his chakra signature fading slowly. Sasuke and Sakura jogged to where Kakashi and their fallen enemy were.

"Yo." Kakashi raised his open palm in greeting. "I'm sorry I didn't intervene earlier. I was waiting for the right time."

"No problem." Sakura waved him off and immediately changed the subject. "Sensei, what about the others? Are they ready to pull the seal off?"

"Let me ask." Kakashi moved to talk into the intercom.

Sakura looked to the left and gave Sasuke a once over. "Are you all right?"

"Aa." He nodded once and then eyed her intently, searching for any wounds. "You?"

"I'm fine." Sakura also nodded. "Just tired."

"Only Neji still needs to defeat his enemy. They will be ready in a minute." Kakashi interjected.

"Brat." Sasori spoke up. "Where did you find an antidote to that?"

"I created it." Sakura smirked. "I told you, didn't I? I'm friends with Chiyo-chan, she told me a lot about you."

Sasori glared at her and Sakura was afraid that he would keep on asking. She honestly didn't know what she would say if he kept questioning her, because she'd prepared the antidote in Konoha based on the knowledge she had from her past life. Kakashi wouldn't question her because he knew about her time travel and her previous fight with Sasori – that how he'd known about his weakness – but Sasuke would definitely be suspicious.

Thankfully, the Akatsuki seemed to let it slide and closed his eyes in surrender. Despite being a puppet, Sakura could see the defeated posture in his body and the depressed feeling he emitted. Sakura felt her heart constrict at the sight of him like that, the knowledge of why he'd turned out like that filling her with sadness. After the war Sakura had come to stop considering every other shinobi like she used to. The story about Itachi, Obito, and every person she'd met from other villages had opened her eyes to how human they all really were. Sakura hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

"Sasori…" Sakura took another step towards his and kneeled in front of him to level her eyes with his. She felt Sasuke and Kakashi shift uncomfortably behind her, probably because of how close she'd gotten to an enemy that was still alive. "I'm sorry it had to end like this."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Chiyo…" Sakura frowned and looked at the ground in front of her. "She told me about her grandson and how he'd become a criminal. How he'd chosen to build a wall no one could break through after his parents died. How he became lost in his own hatred and resentment after he lost his closest family."

"…" Sasori didn't even flinch at her words.

"Don't you think that it's all too unfair? To yourself. Do you honestly believe that you've lived a fulfilling life?" Sakura stopped for a moment. "Wouldn't you have been happier with friends? A new family? Does power make you happy?"

"It does." Sasori spat, but there was a pained expression in his eyes.

Sakura closed her eyes tightly. "Even… turning your own body into a puppet. Throwing away your ability to feel for so many years… Haven't you missed your body? The warmth of another human being? The touch of a friend? Of a lover? …Why are you punishing yourself like this?"

"I… I'm not." Sasori's eyes were wide when he stared at Sakura. Everyone in the room was aware that he was in denial, even Sasori himself. A flash of regret shone in them as he frowned in sorrow and then lowered his head.

"You're not guilty for your parents' death." Sakura smiled softly, understanding filling her deeply. Her memories of the Sasuke in her past life helping her understand the man in front of her. "You didn't need to become a criminal and shut everyone out. Everybody deserves happiness… _everyone._ "

"What good is it to talk about this now." Sasori barked, but there was a pained sound in his voice. He didn't lift his head to look at Sakura.

"You should know that Chiyo still loved you dearly. You've always been her grandson; the boy she raised for so many years." Sakura's eyes were soft and there were suddenly unshed tears in them. "She still had your bed room like you left it… she never gave up on you. She was always willing to forgive you and take you in again."

Sasori's eyes widened briefly and then he tightly closed them. Sakura wondered if he would be crying if he had an actual body. Sasori's chakra flickered once again, the last of it being released and death taking over him. "I… tell her… I wish I'd seen her one more time."

Sakura felt the last of his chakra fade away and she stood up. She frowned deeply and took a couple steps back, coming to stand next to her team mates. Sakura looked at Kakashi and he jerked his head towards his left. She curiously looked that way and saw Sasuke's face obscured by his bangs, the atmosphere around him gloomy; he was deep in thought. If suddenly occurred to Sakura that what she'd said to Sasori could've been perfectly applied to Sasuke as well. He was not a criminal in this life – not yet at least – but his pain and his story related to Sasori's a lot. She wondered what he was thinking about…had her words made him question his actions? Was he angry that she'd talked about such a thing in his presence? Was he just saddened because he'd been reminded of his own clan's massacre?

Sakura wanted to ask what he was feeling, but decided to leave him alone with his thoughts. He didn't seem to be in the mood to talk about it, especially given that they still hadn't completed the mission. Instead, Sakura turned to Kakashi.

"Sensei, come here." She motioned for him to walk closer to her and she put her hands on his injured shoulder. "I'll just stop the bleeding for now."

"Ok." Kakashi nodded and allowed her chakra to surround his wound. After half a minute, he lowered his head and held one hand to his earpiece. "They're in position."

Her hands fell from Kakashi's shoulder as he jumped towards the seal that was on the huge rock blocking the entrance of the cave. Sakura's body froze up before taking a step back. It was time. After days of worrying and trying to get to Gaara, she would finally be able to save him. She didn't know how exactly she would stop the extraction if it came to that, but she knew that she would have to do something about it.

Sakura's heartbeat was erratic in her ribcage, the worry once again settling inside of her. What would she find inside? Would Gaara be alive? Would the extraction be finished and all she would find would be his dead body once again? Sakura nervously clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides, trying to keep focused on the present.

Kakashi removed the seal off the huge rock in a swift motion and then jumped back behind Sakura. She gathered chakra around her hand and then ran at the blocked entrance of the cave. Her fist clashed against the rock and it cracked into tiny pieces in the blink of an eye, the sheer force sending the rubble everywhere in what resembled an explosion. Sakura didn't wait for her teammates to catch up and simply rushed inside, sending chakra down her legs and to her feet. She run 50 meters into the cave in only a couple of seconds and stopped dead in her tracks when the huge cloud of dust finally cleared. She faintly noticed her teammates stopping beside her the next moment and a hand shot up to hold her wrist in a painfully strong manner.

" _Idiot!_ "

She realized it was Sasuke who was holding her hand when he whispered into her ear. He was holding her in place to prevent her from running into the cave anymore. And no wonder, but it wasn't needed because Sakura was frozen in place by the sight in front of them.

Not ten meters ahead of them, at the far end of the cave, was a hugestatue. It had its hands wide open in front of it and its fingers spread apart. On each fingertip was a hologram of a person – an Akatsuki member – and they seemed to have been deep in discussion. However impressive all of that was, Sakura's whole attention was focused on the _face_ of her nightmares; the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. It was the vessel into which the bijuus would be sealed into and the one that would finally become the Juubi. The resemblance was uncanny… Sakura couldn't help but freeze in panic at the sight of it.

Her senses shut down as her mind became flooded with images… memories of the 4th war and its aftermath. The deaths of all of her friends and family by the hands of _that_ creature. The systematic destruction of every human life she ever came across – except for Obito – and of every natural ecosystem she walked into. The pain of starvation and the constant fear of dying alone, of finding herself the last one alive.

Sakura faintly felt Sasuke and Kakashi tense next to her and Kakashi's hand came to rest on her shoulder firmly. She forced herself to snap back into the present and turned her head to look at her teacher. He was looking at her with understanding and empathy – he knew what the statue meant to her after what she'd told him about her past life – but also with a look that was warning her to gather herself quickly. Her head was drumming from the force of the feelings she'd experimented, but she managed to take notice of what was going on.

The Akatuski members – or more specifically their holograms – were starting to disappear one by one. Sakura's eyes came upon Itachi's narrowed ones, that were intently looking at her. She held his gaze for a moment and then his eyes flickered to Sasuke and Kakashi for a split second before he disappeared too.

Sakura looked at the last hologram standing on top of a statue fingertip; Pain. She frowned upon seeing him there… should she talk to him? Maybe. She probably shouldn't waste this chance. Maybe she should try to convince him to have a talk with her. Maybe if she did, she and Kakashi could talk to Sasuke to make sure he didn't react badly to the news of her being a time traveler. It was a stretch of luck, but Sakura wasn't sure if she would have another-

"You're too late." Pains voice brought her out of her thoughts. It wasn't until he spoke that Sakura _remembered_ what their current mission was.

"Gaara…" her eyes widened in shock. She'd truly been adamant in finding him, but when coming face to face with the beast of her nightmares she had completely forgotten about him. Her whole being suddenly realized that the extraction had in fact _not been_ taking place anymore. She became painfully aware that it could only mean one thing. The extraction of the bijuu was done and she had failed. "No…"

"He died for a good cause." Pain answered simply, as if that would make her feel any better.

He made a couple hand signs and the Demonic Statue was casted away. As soon as it was out of sight, his hologram disappeared too. In the middle of the ground where the statue had been standing, was a still form. Sakura's breath got caught in her throat to the point that she felt like she was choking, but she still pushed her body forwards until she was kneeling next to her redhead friend. He was too pale – even for his standards – and he was deadly still. Sakura's hand shot out to his throat, trying to find a pulse or something to give her hope… but she found none. Gaara was dead.

"Oh…" Sakura's eyes closed tightly as she chocked on her tears. Her hands softly picked Gaara's body up and brought him closer to hug him. Sakura felt utterly useless. Not only had she known about Gaara's abduction for years in advance, but she also was a medic; someone meant to _save_ people. She wasn't supposed to watch them _die_. And yet, it seemed like it was all she could ever do.

Sakura faintly heard voices and realized that team Gai had entered the cave and where running towards her and her team. She paid them no mind. Actually, Sakura didn't even notice that Kakashi and Sasuke had been standing next to her the whole time until that moment. It could've been due to the fact that they were uncannily silent. Kakashi turned around and walked towards the other team to meet them halfway, probably to give Sakura some space.

Sasuke's shoulders had dropped in defeat. They had failed the mission – their first mission as a team in _years_. Not just that, but Sakura had lost someone important to her. He could imagine how close she'd been to the Kazekage from her general reactions and he could _also_ see that she was blaming herself. Her face was contorted in deep grief, but there were also flashes of defeat and anger in her body language. Sasuke knew her well enough to know what she'd been thinking. He wanted to tell her that it was _not_ her fault. That she did all she could and that she couldn't control everything. That she couldn't be everywhere at once to protect her precious people and that she couldn't prevent everyone's death. He wanted to tell her that he understood how she felt and that she _needed_ to stop blaming herself. But Sasuke knew he would be acting a bit like a hypocrite, because deep down he sometimes still blamed himself for not foreseeing Itachi's actions. He also knew that the only thing Sakura needed now was time to grieve, so he stayed back.

There was also the issue of their argument. Their battle together had been good; they had fought well together, protected each other and communicated just fine. However, Sasuke noticed that as soon as the fight was over, a slight distance reappeared between them. Sakura was probably not conscious of it – because she was focusing on something else entirely – but Sasuke surely was. He was currently more annoyed than before about their current predicament, because he felt as if any attempts at comforting her would be awkward and she might even push him away. It also wasn't the time to talk things through. So, Sasuke did the only thing he guessed was right at the time and stood next to her.

Sakura's crying had evolved from open cries and hiccups, to a quiet crying as her disbelief and shock subsided. However, that didn't mean that she was feeling any better. Her thoughts and feelings – that had been rushed and all over the place a couple minutes ago – now felt numb, as if her mind had decided to shut down in order to protect itself. Sakura simply felt empty at the moment, but wasn't sure if it would do her any good to suppress the grief that would surely come back later. She faintly heard Kakashi and Gai talking and – from the words she managed to recognize – assumed they were filling each other in on their battles.

Sakura lowered Gaara onto the ground gently and suddenly pulled back. She put her hand into her medical pouch, pulling out some sort of medical linen to use as a tissue. She heavily blew her nose, which had been practically running free after so much crying.

When she finished, Sasuke crouched next to her and stretched his arm forward as he held out his canteen, silently offering her some water. Sakura lowered her hands – that were holding her now dirty tissue – and raised her head to look at him. Her eyes were red and puffed from crying and her mouth slightly parted as she breathed through it. Her eyebrows were knitted together and her hands were tightened on her lap. Sakura's hair was slightly messed up, but Sasuke didn't remember if it had been that way when they'd finished fighting Sasori. Overall, Sakura looked heartbreakingly sad. She noticed the water that was being offered to her and then locked eyes with Sasuke. He simply nodded and slightly lifted his canteen a bit more as he offered her a sympathetic smile.

"Thanks." Sakura croaked and smiled back. Sasuke was relieved to find that, even though her smile was sad, it was honest. She gulped down some water and then returned it to him.

"Sakura." Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder and pressed slightly. She locked eyes with him for a moment – clearly expecting him to go on – and he realized that he didn't know what to say. The gesture had been something unconscious and he had not planned anything to say. He had never been good with words, but he was also not good with any form of physical demonstration of affection. He mentally cursed himself for his social inability, but decided – within a split second – that it was something that could only change if he put some effort into it.

Sakura was waiting for Sasuke to say whatever he wanted to – and was currently wondering if he had decided not to talk – when he did something completely unexpected. He raised the arm that was closer to her and put it over her shoulders, pulling her closer to his side. It was a half hug, and quite awkwardly executed if Sakura was to be honest… but the gesture was more than enough for her. She turned so that she was facing him and wrapped both her arms around his torso, tightly pulling him against her.

Silent sobs were emitted from Sakura's shaking form as her hands tightly fisted the back of Sasuke's shirt. He quietly put his own arms around her, encasing her into a hug that he hoped would communicate his supporting presence. He didn't really know what else to do in this kind of situations. What would a more socially open person say in this moment? 'I'm here for you'? 'Don't cry? 'It'll be all right'? It all seemed like a bunch of bullshit. There was nothing he could say. Apart from that, Sasuke didn't even really _know_ Gaara. What could he say about the death of someone he hadn't known much about?

They both simply sat there, Sakura's tears pooling on his shoulder while the shaking of her shoulders reverberated through his chest. Kakashi seemed to have finished talking to team Gai, because they were all quiet now and watching Gaara's body with a disappointed frown on their faces. Kakashi neared his two students and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, who had stopped crying by now – but still had a disheartening expression on her face.

"Sakura."

Sakura took a deep breath in. "Yeah."

"We need to set out to Suna soon." He informed her. The implication of needing to have a funeral before Gaara's body started deteriorating went unsaid.

Sakura nodded quietly and bent down to pick up Gaara's form, and carried it to the clearing outside the cave. She faintly noticed Sasori's puppet body lying on the ground not far from her – still amongst all the rubble and torn tree trunks – but walked ahead. She softly put Gaara's body on the ground under a tree and kneeled next to him. She realized that everyone – Sasuke, Kakashi and Team Gai – surrounded the Kazekage's body quietly, in respect for his death.

Sakura's eyes lingered on his features for what she thought would be the last time she saw her friends. Now they would have to wrap his whole body up, so that the desert heat ahead wouldn't do too much damage. She was about to ask for something to wrap him in, when her senses caught another presence nearing them. Even despite her state of mind, she managed to suppress the urge to react to it immediately – knowing that it could seem suspicious for her to have higher sensing abilities than Kakashi or Gai – and only reacted when she saw the jonins look towards that direction. Her eyes widened when she recognized that chakra signature and stood up in recognition when the woman landed inside the clearing.

"Chiyo-chan." She greeted with a voice still coarse and tired from the previous events. She would've smiled at seeing her friend after so long, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. However, Sakura had to admit that it did bring her out of her depressive state a bit.

Chiyo immediately rushed towards Sakura, giving a small nod at the other shinobi as a quick form of greeting. "Sakura! Are you all right?" Sakura nodded softly in response, and the elder woman immediately caught her strange demeanor. Sakura seemed… distressed. Then she followed where the pinkette was intently looking at and her own eyes widened. Sabaku no Gaara was dead; they had been too late. Instead of feeling disappointed, angry or even sad – she hadn't been too close to the Kazekage after all – Chiyo felt worried. Sakura had been really good friends with the redhead and she also knew that she treasured her close people dearly. Chiyo understood how his death must've hit her, since she had herself lost close friends in missions before. Also, what would happen with Suna now? What about the necessary peace treaty they'd established with Konoha? Chiyo knew that something needed to be done.

Sakura felt Chiyo's hand slowly hold her own, the old woman's warmth and serenity passing on to her in a strange tingling feeling on her fingers. Sakura's turned her head to lock eyes with her and was surprised to see Chiyo's eyes drowned in tenderness. Her eyebrows rose in question and interest as her hind tightened the older woman's. Chiyo gestured with her head towards Gaara before speaking in a low voice.

"You know, Sakura, I never really gave our new Kazekage a second thought when he was first elected." She chuckled. "I had long ago decided to not care about politics and shady business. It had become so emotionally draining at my age to see people playing dirty politic games. I really thought that there was no way for any shinobi village to have a leader that wasn't corrupt."

"I know." Sakura smiled sadly. "But I believe Gaara was different."

"Just like your blond friend, Naruto." Chiyo smiled as she closed her eyes, probably remembering the time that she'd met the blonde teen when he'd visited Sakura in Suna. "I really had dropped all sense of a better future for our village and had decided to simply enjoy my retirement… but then Gaara became Kazekage and you came to our village. Despite now knowing him closely, I learned a lot about him through you, through what you told me. He has changed so much from the lost boy he once used to be… I was proud of what I found out. Now I really think that he could've done a great good to our village. He was a truly good and humble leader, who believed in peace and worked tirelessly towards prosperity for all."

Sakura felt her eyes fill up with tears again at the same time as her chest constricted in worry; what kind of leader would Suna have now? Would Konoha's peace treaty with them survive with someone else in charge? What would happen if the Shinobi Alliance were to be ever needed in the future? Sakura didn't get to think beyond that, because Chiyo spoke once again.

"We can't let him die."

Sakura was about to say that he was _already dead_ , but then her eyes widened in recognition. How could she have forgotten about Chiyo's last resort jutsu? Not only had she used that in her past life, but she had also told Sakura about it during their time together in Suna. "You don't mean…"

"I do."

"But… you'll die." Sakura bit her lip and held Chiyo's arm tightly. "You'll die for sure."

"I know." She smiled sadly, but her eyes shone with acceptance and resolve. "But I'm old. I don't have a whole life ahead of me. I'm not the _Kazekage_ and my presence is not as important as his is. He has a chance to make a difference, to fall in love, to have a family, to build something for himself and for his people. I, on the other hand, am just a rotting old lady that's nearing the 8th decade too fast for her liking."

"Don't say that!" Sakura frowned in disagreement. "You know what we've talked about! Age does not-"

"-not lie on how many years you count, but in the spirit." She nodded. "But time and death are unavoidable and I will die sooner than later. Besides, are you sure you would rather let Gaara die?"

Sakura's shoulder dropped and she tightened her hands at her sides. Would she have rather Gaara die? How was she even supposed to decide such a thing? The both of them meant so much for her. Both filled different gaps in her life and-

"Relax." Chiyo shook Sakura's shoulder. "You always overthink everything. I'm not telling you to make a decision, because I already have chosen. I want you to respect my decision and support me now."

"Chiyo-chan…" Sakura's eyes softened. Chiyo was older, but that didn't make her any less human. She was making a sacrifice and was going to surrender her life for the sake of what she thought was the right thing to do. Chiyo was probably scared, but she was pushing forwards and not looking at her own apprehensions and fears. The least Sakura could do was support her as a fellow shinobi and as her _friend_. Sakura shook her head slightly, clearing up any worries left in her and held Chiyo's hand, that was still on her shoulder. "All right. Let's do this."

"But _first,_ I want to ask something of you." Chiyo's eyes trailed to where Sasori's puppet body lay motionless. "Tell me about my grandson's last minutes."

 **-x-**

Chiyo had seemed incredibly happy to know that apparently there still had been some humanity in Sasori. She had been grateful at Sakura because of the words she'd spoken to him. She'd said that most shinobi would've simply forgotten a criminal was a human too and left him to die alone and that, then again, Sakura was too soft hearted to be a kunoichi.

Chiyo explained the jutsu to the rest of the Konoha shinobi and shortly apologized for not greeting them sooner. Everyone was surprised that such a jutsu existed and seemed guilty that she would have to complete their own mission. Despite that, no one said anything and thanked the older woman, knowing as much as she did that the Kage's life was far more important than any other shinobis' in any village.

They all settled around Gaara and Chiyo, who sat on the ground next to his head. Sakura watched with a heavy heart as the older woman prepared everything to start the jutsu. She tried to focus on the birds that were flying above the canopy, the sky was a beautiful blue and the clouds were as white as they got. On the horizon, there were high mountains and they were covered with snow at the top, which shone under the sunlight. The poetic scenery did nothing to calm her melancholic state.

Sakura crouched next to Chiyo and pulled her into a hug. She was saddened that she was losing a dear friend in exchange for another, but it somehow didn't feel as wrong as Gaara's death. Sakura felt slightly guilty about it, but reassured herself that it was _not_ because of a personal preference. She imagined that it was a mixture of the fact that Chiyo had died at this point of time in her past life, that Chiyo was much older and would've died soon of old age anyways and that Gaara had so much more to do and live through than she did. The old woman had been right about everything – she always seemed to be.

"I'm going to miss you so much." Sakura whispered into her shoulder.

"I know." Chiyo smiled. "Death is always awful for the ones that are left behind, because human life is built on bonds. I'm sorry."

Sakura smiled and pressed her hard against her once more before letting go. She retreated a bit to give Chiyo some space to perform the jutsu, but stayed close to her nonetheless. The older woman performed the hand signs and then put her hands on Gaara's shoulders. Chakra emitted from her hands and transferred into his body, slowly filling it with life energy once again. As the seconds passed by, Chiyo's breath became more labored and sweat formed on her forehead. Sakura felt the urge to wipe it off but was afraid to interrupt the jutsu – which she sadly knew nothing of because Chiyo had refused to teach it to her.

Suddenly, Chiyo's body pummeled down into the ground between Gaara's body and Sakura. She immediately held her and felt her pulse, which was now gone. She tenderly closed her half lidded eyes and kissed her forehead before laying her back on the ground. Sakura, Lee and Ten-Ten slowly moved Chiyo towards a sheet that Kakashi had gotten from who knows where and wrapped her up in a minute. They didn't want her body to deteriorate before she had a proper funeral in Suna.

As soon as that was done, everyone's eyes were back on Gaara, who was still lying on the ground and seemed as dead as before. However, his usual skin tone slowly started to come back and his chest almost imperceptibly began rising and falling as he breathed once more. All 7 Konoha shinobi stood in awe at the sight of life being casted into what had just been a corpse. Slowly, Gaara's opened his eyes and quietly stirred as he rose into a sitting position.

Sakura felt tears on her eyes once more, but this time it was because of relief; Gaara was alive. She felt a wide smile spread on her lips, unable to keep her feelings in check – as would've been expected during a mission. Her arms carefully circled around him and pulled him into a hug.

"Sakura." Gaara's arms wrapped around her waist in return, and his head came to rest on her shoulder.

Gaara had been a bit confused and disoriented at first, but when his pink haired friend embraced him his mind managed to calm and remember the past events. He was a bit startled at the fact that he was not dead, but trusted the easy atmosphere around him and his instincts which told him that there was no more danger. It was not only a surprise to be alive but Sakura was there. He had missed her so badly after she left Suna almost two months ago. His routine had included the pinkette's visit at least once a day and suddenly having her gone had been striking at first.

Gaara had always told himself that he didn't care about what kind of relationship he had with Sakura as long as they had one. He didn't want to risk having such an important person walking away from him. However, when the Akatsuki attacked Suna he had first been worried for his village, but when he woke up in a cave and inferred what their intentions were he was filled with regret. When facing his imminent death, he found that he couldn't agree with that train of thought anymore. The need to know where they stood was present in his mind even through the pain of the extraction. He wondered what she would've thought about his feelings. Would she have remained friends with him? Would she have returned them? It was only then that Gaara understood how important it was to die without regrets and to live life to the fullest.

Feeling Sakura's arms around his neck and her happiness due to him being alive made him feel warm inside. He inhaled deeply and his nose was filled with her particular scent – something he had never been able to define with words, but that was nonetheless deeply imbedded into his mind. He closed his eyes for a moment and was surrounded by her presence.

Gaara later imagined that, due to the experience of dying and coming back alive, he had either forgotten that he was surrounded by other people or simply subconsciously hadn't thought it relevant anymore. Pushed by a rush of bravery, he pulled back from Sakura's embrace and put his hand on the back of her neck before she could move away. He gently held her in place and moved closer to place his lips on the outline of hers. It was a feather touch, but he knew that she had definitely felt it because her breath caught in her throat.

When he pulled back, her eyes were wide and looking at him with disbelief. Gaara simply smiled at her reaction and she immediately coughed into her hand, trying to break the tension in the air. Everyone was quiet around them, probably wondering if there was something going on between the two.

Gaara liked to think that he knew Sakura almost as well as he knew his own siblings. He could see that she felt a bit uncomfortable at his actions and that she was a bit confused. For some reason she looked… worried. Nonetheless, he did not regret showing her that she meant something more to him. After all, he only wanted to find out where they stood and, knowing her, she would try to talk to him about it. Gaara was counting on that.

Feeling that he had taken a first step towards clearing the subject that he'd been regretting ever since he was faced with death, Gaara turned to look away from Sakura. She seemed to be a bit caught in her thoughts at the moment, so he would talk to someone else. His eyes came upon Kakashi, who was conveniently looking at him.

"Kazekage-sama." He nodded his head in a respectful manner.

"Kakashi." Gaara greeted back. "Do you mind filling me in?"

Sakura knew that she was supposed to explain her fight with Sasori to Gaara. However, she couldn't bring herself to look at him at the moment. It was not that she was feeling shy about Gaara's gesture or that she was angry at him. Sakura's mind was filled with something else entirely at the moment.

She was trying hard not to look at Sasuke, but she couldn't help the furtive glances that she threw at him. The worst part of all was that he seemed to be intently listening to somebody else's conversation – something he _rarely_ did – and currently had his back turned towards her. Was he purposefully ignoring her? Had he even seen what Gaara did? Was he angry? Did he even _care_? Sakura hated that she always started overthinking everything and playing scenarios in her head – _especially_ when it came to Sasuke.

On the other hand, Chiyo's death was still ever present in her mind. In between the glances she threw at Sasuke, she looked at the place where her friend's wrapped body was laying. Her heart still ached at the notion that she'd lost a close friend – no matter how much older Chiyo had been, Sakura had still considered the woman her friend – and she felt like she needed space to mourn. However, the fact that she was surrounded by other people and the subject was about Gaara were not helping her at all.

 _Apart_ from all of that, Sakura had remembered another subject that she'd forgotten until that moment. As soon as Chiyo's body was delivered to Suna that day and her funeral was held on the next day, all Konoha shinobi would start the trip back home. And, on that trip, Sakura was supposed to meet with Itachi. Tell him that she was a time traveler, tell him what had happened in her previous life and convince him to take action to stop Obito. Also, she would have to keep anyone – especially Sasuke – from finding out about their meeting.

It all was a hell of a mess in her head, and Sakura felt like she wouldn't be able to handle everything the way she had expected to.

 **A/N: So! Here it is! Chapter 31. I had wanted it to be shorter… but oh well.**

 **I know that Chiyo jumped at Kakashi the first time she saw him in canon, but I didn't want to ruin the moment with that scene. So just assume that Sakura told Chiyo about her sensei being the White Fang's son.**

 **What did you think of the battle between Sakura and Sasuke against Sasori?**

 **What about Gaara's death and their short meeting with the Akatsuki holograms and the creepy Juubi Statue?**

 **Do you think Sasuke will have some sort of reaction after seeing Gaara almost kiss Sakura on the lips? Was it too cliché? (I know it was! Damn, I was doubted whether to put it or not… but finally decided to do that because some readers had asked for a scene like that. It kinda seemed like a cheesy highschool romance… but then again they're sixteen, right? – at least Sasuke and Gaara are, so it still counts.)**

 **I want to thank my beta, MonochromeAce, for reading the chapter so fast!**

 **Also, I want to thank all of you for reading and especially for reviewing! Reviews are love and they give me so much incentive!**


	32. An awaited meeting

**CHAPTER 32**

The Akatsuki had taken Gaara into a forest that was just at the edge of the desert and as soon as the party of shinobi took off they entered the dry ecosystem. They had talked it through and had decided that they had to get to Suna as soon as possible, so they would have to move faster than usual and travel sometime after nightfall. Sakura realized that everyone was exhausted after such strenuous fights and almost no time to rest, but no one complained; they knew that Chiyo's body needed to get to Suna soon.

Sakura felt that her presence there had somehow created a pressure on the subject, because she honestly doubted that shinobi teams would regularly put a dead person's body ahead of the living. Nonetheless, she was grateful for it. If there was something that would worsen her state of mind, it would be to witness Chiyo's body starting to decay due to prolonged exposure to the desert heat.

Chiyo's body was still securely wrapped in the sheet, which was currently being carried by Lee and TenTen, each one holding one end of it. Kakashi was holding a makeshift sunshade that he had pulled from big canopy leaves – who would've guessed that The Sharingan Kakashi, openly a pervert and a ruthless shinobi, was good at handcrafting something like that? The thought would've made Sakura laugh if she hadn't been under so much stress for the past few hours.

On top of that, Sakura was well aware that there was tension in the air. And it involved her. On one hand, everyone had witnessed Gaara's actions towards her and they were scattered around in a formation that was practically… giving them some space. As if they were a couple, or as if they were going to get together anytime soon.

On the other hand, Gaara had been unusually quiet ever since they'd taken off. Sakura had noticed that Kakashi and Gai had spoken to him and wondered if that had something to do with his change in demeanor. She had no way of knowing _what_ had been said because she'd been too busy worrying about Sasuke, like a goddamn child. They were in the middle of a mission that would have great political impact, but Sakura had been too busy with some romantic drama – that probably was nonexistent anyways – and may have missed some important piece of conversation. Sakura just hoped that Gaara was not upset because they had failed and Chiyo had died. Maybe he had disagreed with Kakashi on something? Or maybe with Gai?

Apart from that, Sasuke had been ignoring Sakura ever since they left the forest. He had not given any indications of being angry, upset, injured, too exhausted, or anything else. However, Sakura just _knew_ that something was up. At first she thought that she was making up all the drama in her head – she _did_ pay more attention to him than others after all – but as the day progressed she became increasingly certain that it was _not_ her imagination. First of all, Sasuke had been acting especially antisocial towards everyone – Sasuke had _never_ acted this way in this time line, not even when Sakura first met him while still in the Academy. Secondly, he had not looked at her once or even faced her direction – that she was aware of at the very least. And third but not last, Sasuke had been constantly keeping his distance from her and had ended up at the opposite end of the group no matter where Sakura moved to. So, at the end of the day, she was pretty sure that something was up with him.

Sakura had four theories for his behavior. The first one was that he was still upset about their argument about him putting Kakashi in danger while fighting the fake Itachi. The second was that he could be still bothered by the fact that he had seen Itachi twice – if she included his hologram in the cave – but had not been able to do anything against him. The third option was that the words Sakura had told Sasori during his final moments had affected him too, especially given how similar their backgrounds were. The last one was that Sasuke was angry about Gaara almost kissing her on the lips – which she wanted to assume was not possible, because she didn't need to play any scenarios in her head. There could also be another reason that she was unaware of, but given how he seemed to be avoiding her specifically, she imagined that it had something to do with her.

When nightfall arrived, the group of shinobi experienced firsthand the _cold_ of the desert. Sakura understood why desert animals mostly moved around at night; because if you didn't have a blanket you would die of cold, plus they all built underground shelters for during the day. So, despite it being cold as hell, Sakura was glad that they were _moving_ , because even with a blanket she would be freezing. She suddenly even missed the scorching heat of the day.

After a good three or four hours of walking in the cold, Suna came into view. The whole group's morale was boosted and their pace increased; everyone was eager to sleep in a warm bed and have something to eat. When they entered the gates, they were approached by two squads – Gaara had a message sent ahead to inform his village of the previous events – one squad took Chiyo's body away and the other immediately approached Gaara to check his health and report on the village's situation. There had been an invasion and battle inside the village after all.

As Gaara moved towards the Kazekage tower, another Suna shinobi approached the rest of them and announced that they would be taken to a place where they could rest. They all followed quietly, they're bodies now feeling the tiredness that came from walking in the desert heat and cold for _hours_. It was also almost midnight by then and they were all beaten from their previous battles. Suna had assigned one room per team, so they quickly said their goodnights and entered their rooms. The first thing that Sakura noticed, and she was exhilarated when she did, was a hot meal already served on their nightstands.

"Oh, I needed this so much." Sakura beamed and dropped her backpack on the first bed that she came across, immediately sitting down on it – right next to the nightstand.

"The cold definitely opened up my appetite for some hot miso soup." Kakashi started unwrapping another meal as Sasuke sat down on the remaining bed.

"Honestly, even after living here for two years I never cease to be amazed that people actually survive in such a climate." Sakura said after swallowing a bite of her dinner. "This is so good."

They all ate their own food in silence, their appetites too big for them to waste time talking. Ten minutes later, they were all finished and Kakashi stretched before standing up.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting ready for bed."

He took a smaller bag and some clothes – probably pajamas – out of his pack and headed towards the door. Only when he'd left did Sakura realize that she was now alone with Sasuke and the not at all welcome thoughts came back to her. Her eyes trailed towards the other end of the room, where Sasuke was currently sitting on his bed and looking out the window. Sakura looked at him for a while, expecting him to say something to her… but he didn't. Sakura knew that Sasuke was a person of little words, but so much had happened that day. There definitely were things to talk about – at the very least their argument the previous night – and it was the perfect opportunity to do so. Sakura fidgeted a bit on her bed and finally decided to try and break the ice.

"It's always tiring travelling to Suna."

"Hn."

Well. At least he said _something._ Sakura leaned forward a bit to try and see what Sasuke was looking at with so much interest. She didn't see anything but the barely noticeable roofs of the village and the black sky above, that was filled with stars that shone brighter than they did in Konoha. "It's quite a view here, huh? The sky is always so clear here… the lack of rain and clouds at least has one advantage."

"Hn."

Ok, she had tried. Sakura really wanted to talk to Sasuke but she wasn't going to force him or anything. After all, this whole awkwardness might only be part of her imagination and she would be making a fool out of herself. She also knew that Sasuke was a private person and he didn't like when people poked into his business uninvited. If there was something on his mind that he was willing to talk about, he would try to engage in conversation too, right?

Long, _long_ minutes passed in silence and Sakura felt so uncomfortable that she was sure that she would be able to cut through the tension in the air with her kunai. She ended up passing her fingers along the slightly rough but beautiful textile that was covering her sheets. It was a loom woven bedspread with red, yellow and brown strips – desert colors. Her mind became filled with memories of her time in Suna, of the time when Chiyo had realized that Sakura didn't know much about Suna's culture and had given her a tour to show her some traditional places and crafts. Sakura had been amazed by their cultural richness, something that she'd never actually seen in Konoha. Somehow, settling in a place as inhospitable as that one had bloomed into a particular way of life that had bloomed into a different kind of folklore. Chiyo had always been proud of her homeland and its people; hardworking and loving of their traditions. Sakura had truly only first seen the true love for one's nation when she met an older woman – for some reason younger people like herself lacked that.

She suddenly felt like there had been eyes on her and looked up to notice that Sasuke had turned his body towards her. His eyes were examining her intently and his face was completely blank, so Sakura couldn't guess what was going through his mind. She simply locked eyes with him for a moment, waiting for him to speak. After what seemed like an eternity, Sasuke looked away for a moment as if hesitating and then back at her.

"…are you fine?" he asked quietly. Oh. So he did notice the tension. Sakura knew him well enough to see that, beyond his aloofness and general laidback attitude, he was aware that things were not… completely right between them. Sakura also immediately knew that Sasuke had known that she'd been thinking at the moment.

"Well… yeah." Sakura shrugged a bit. "As good as I can be right now."

Sasuke nodded slightly and looked at his hands, that were intertwined and resting on his bent knees. Sakura looked at her feet and cursed that uneasiness between them, which had once again turned into an uneasy silence. How to try to even bring up the subject of whatever it was that was bothering him? Sakura looked up once again, just as Sasuke looked at her and she bit her lower lip. He didn't look too fazed by any of it, but she noticed the slightest tension in his shoulders.

"Are you all right?" Sakura decided to speak again.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Sakura didn't know if Sasuke tone was confused or withdrawn. She wouldn't know unless she spoke to him once again. The best course of action was to first try to say that she was sorry for their argument – she knew that she'd had every reason to be upset, but might've not spoken in the most composed manner. She opened her mouth to speak again but a knocking on the door interrupted her. Sakura jerked up and looked towards the door, wondering if Kakashi had left without keys.

Before she could move, Sasuke stood up and walked to the door to open it in one swift move. On the other side of the door was not Kakashi, but Gaara. He nodded in greeting – which Sasuke mirrored – and then leaned sideways to look at Sakura, who was still sitting cross-legged on her bed. Sakura immediately knew that Gaara wanted her to leave the room, most certainly to talk about what had happened. Sasuke apparently realized it too, because he left the door open and moved out of the way, clearing the way out of the room. Sakura put her shoes on and strolled towards the hallway, smiling briefly at Sasuke when she passed by him and then at Gaara. She felt Sasuke's eyes on her as she left the room – his ever sharp eyes burning a hole on her back – and then heard the door close as she walked away with Gaara.

Sakura was partly glad that she would get to talk to Gaara before the next day – they would probably leave as soon as the funeral ended the next day – but partly frustrated because she hadn't had the chance to speak to Sasuke. In the end, she knew that this was the only chance she'd get to speak to Gaara in a long time, while on the other hand she could speak to Sasuke any other day.

Gaara was quiet as he led her up the stairs of the building that they had all been settled into, but it wasn't a tense silence like the one that she'd been feeling around Sasuke ever since last night. Somehow, despite their almost kiss, there wasn't any tension between them and there was only a comfortable knowledge that there were things to discuss. Gaara led Sakura to the rooftop – they always had met in high places to spend time when she still lived there – and they sat down on the ledge. They looked down at the village for a while, until Gaara spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked at Gaara curiously, wondering what exactly he was apologizing for. "Why?"

"I shouldn't have done that in front of everyone." He admitted. "I also didn't know about Chiyo at the moment. You didn't need to have anything more on your mind at the moment."

"Oh… don't worry." Sakura's lips formed a small smile. She sucked on her lower lip and then looked down to the buildings again. "Why?"

"Do I have to say it aloud?" Gaara said calmly. Sakura was pretty sure she knew why he'd done that – she was no idiot – but she had to ask anyways. "I don't mind clarifying though. I care about you as more than a friend. I have for a long time."

"Gaara." Sakura's eyes softened.

She looked at the redhead in front of her and wondered if there was an unknown feeling for him inside of her. Maybe she just hadn't noticed and she could give it a shot, right? Gaara was such an amazing person. He was smart, kind and emotionally strong. He had been through so much and had grown into a mature adult in the body of a teenager. Sakura also had fun with him and she trusted him a lot too – almost as much as she trusted Naruto. Looking at him once again – Sakura had noticed that for some reason she never noticed the appearance of her close ones – she realized that he was also handsome. She imagined that if she were to feel something other than friendship for him, they could come be very happy. But the problem was that she didn't.

Looking at Gaara was almost like looking at Naruto. Not quite the same – because she truly honestly saw the blonde as a _brother_ – but close enough to know that she didn't feel what _he_ did. She was comfortable around him, but there was not an ounce of attraction towards him. Not in the way that she had always felt towards Sasuke, which she _still_ did up to this days after all these years. That fact made even _the thought of_ betraying her own feelings – and Gaara's – not an option. After being caught in her thoughts for a while, Sakura frowned.

"I'm sorry. I don't feel the same way. The only way I can look at you at the moment is as a friend." Sakura pressed her lips into a tight line. "It's not that I wouldn't want to _try,_ but it's just that…"

"It's Sasuke, isn't it?" Gaara smiled softly. For some reason, there was no sadness in his eyes, just understanding.

"Wha- how?" Sakura raised her eyebrows. She didn't even try to deny it; she didn't feel the need to. But it was definitely a wonder how he'd known… because the only people who had known about it had been Temari and Chiyo.

"I had my suspicions when you lived here… but I confirmed them when I saw you today." He chuckled. "You kept throwing glances at him all the way back to Suna. It was really obvious to me."

"Was it?" Sakura frowned, briefly pondering if Sasuke had noticed it too, and then waved the thought away. She cleared her throat again and tried to go back to the previous subject. "Anyways… I can't do it. I wouldn't be truthful if I did, not to myself and not to you."

"I know. I didn't ask to talk to you to try and convince you. I just wanted to clear things up before you left… you know that tomorrow will be a busy day and then you'll have to go back."

"Yeah… we barely got to see each other." she looked down and was silent for a while. "You know that you could find someone else in no time, right?"

"Not anyone will do." Gaara said.

"I know. But there are a lot of worthy girls – and, um, boys? – out there."

Gaara didn't say anything, knowing that Sakura was right but at the same time knowing that she was not. There were plenty of women that would be good for him, but it was just not the same. Nonetheless, Gaara knew when to be patient and he was certain that time would make things right for him. Either with Sakura or someone else. Despite that, he didn't want to lose Sakura's friendship and for a moment regretted his sudden and impulsive actions. His expression must've betrayed what he was thinking, because she immediately saw through him.

"We can still be friends, you know?" Sakura said. "If you want to, that is."

"No way." Gaara lifted his hand in fake annoyance, but then chuckled and elbowed her in the side lightly. "Of course we can. I never intended to make this a dead end. When I was about to die, I just regretted not letting you know. It was like there was a secret between us and I didn't like that."

Damn, Sakura was missing out on so much. Gaara was the epitome of trust, loyalty, and peacefulness in a relationship; she knew him well enough to be sure that he would be a great partner for life. Sakura wanted to bang her head against a wall for _still_ being stuck on Sasuke – a proud, stubborn, impulsive, and slightly rude man… which was not at all that bad, because she somehow liked all of that about him all the same. It made him so much more interesting and attractive.

When thinking about how much Gaara trusted her, Sakura felt a pang of guilt for keeping so much from him; her time-travel, the true face of Danzo and her mission to Suna, the fact that he was going to be kidnapped by the Akatsuki. However, knowing that she'd only kept information from him and had never truly been _false_ made her feel a little better. The day would come when she would be able to tell him everything, but that day was not today.

"I'm glad you told me. I had wondered about that before, but I never brought it up. " Sakura smiled a bit. "Even though most people would probably feel uncomfortable now, it just feels as if now we're… on a steadier ground."

"I really missed you." He smiled and put an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him.

"How could you not?" Sakura hugged him back and felt a big part of her load dissipate – not that it truly had, but clearing up one issue felt encouraging.

After a couple seconds, Gaara gave her one last squeeze and let go. They sat on the rooftop for a long time, talking like they hadn't in months. Catching up on how they'd been doing and talking about what they'd been through that past few days, from both Gaara's and Sakura's point of view. Gaara's feelings when he'd been taken away and Sakura's feelings regarding Chiyo's death.

Sakura suddenly realized that they must've been up there for over an hour and that she needed to leave; she still had a big day ahead of her. Gaara walked her back to her floor and she made her way to her room. She slowly opened up the door and noticed that it was already dark inside the room, with Sasuke and Kakashi already asleep in their beds. She took her small hygiene bag and rushed to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and put on her pajamas before heading back.

She felt a small smile tug at her lips when she settled in between the sheets and warmth finally surrounded her. Despite how hard the day had been, the end of it had been better than she expected. Any unfinished business between her and Gaara was now cleared and she had gotten to spend time with a close friend – something that she hadn't done in a long time besides from Ino.

Sasuke's back was turned towards her, his breathing slow and steady. Sakura wondered if he was asleep and what he would think of her leaving with Gaara for over an hour. She didn't really think there was even a small chance of Sasuke being jealous, but she still hoped that he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

Her mind was filled then with memories of Chiyo, but they somehow didn't assault her like they'd done until then. As she thought about her older friend she was suddenly filled with a nostalgic feeling. It was still a bit heavy on her chest, but it was no-where near as heartbreaking as what she'd felt earlier that day. It also was not at all close to what she'd felt when Tsunade died. Maybe the fact that Chiyo had originally died at this point of time had prepared her a bit for everything. Maybe the fact that she'd gotten to say goodbye to her had helped her accept Chiyo's death. It also helped that Chiyo hadn't been _murdered_ as Tsunade had.

Nonetheless, Sakura was glad that she wasn't plagued by regret, shame, and anguish like when her shishou had died. Her mind mostly remembered the happy times that she'd spent with Chiyo and decided that her approach to her death had been like one of a granddaughter with a terminally ill grandmother. She missed her and would've liked spending more time with her, but she didn't feel desperate about it. Sakura drifted off to sleep sooner than she had expected and, surprisingly, had no nightmares that night.

 **-x-**

Chiyo's funeral was held early in the morning and it had lasted almost an hour. Gaara gave a speech that commended her bravery and loyalty, along with her sense of justice and rightfulness. Sakura stood next to Kakashi during the whole ceremony and his presence had been expectedly comforting. He had known how close she'd been to the woman and he had been understanding with her; he had lost people in battle too and he could relate to her. He hadn't said a word to her about it, but his general approach to her was carefully tender. When the ceremony was over and they were heading back to their rooms to pack their things, he put his hand on her shoulder.

"How are you?" his lone eye softened.

"I will miss her." Sakura admitted but she smiled softly. "But I'm grateful that she had a painless death and that she got to choose how she left this world. Her life was not taken instead she made a decision; it's a meaningful death and probably one of the best ways to die."

"See?" Kakashi patted her shoulder. "You're stronger than you think."

Sakura didn't say anything and simply nodded absentmindedly. She could feel Sasuke's eyes on her as he walked a bit behind her and Kakashi. He had been unusually quiet the whole morning and had only spoken to her to say that he was sorry for her loss at the beginning of the funeral. He didn't seem to be acting as distant as he had the previous day, when he had practically ignored and evaded her. Sakura wasn't sure if he was keeping his distance because he was still upset or if he was trying to give her space.

They got to their room and packed their belongings before heading back to the gates and meeting Team Gai. Gaara and Temari – Kankuro was probably still bed-ridden – got there before they could leave and thanked them all for their help. Gaara approached Sakura last and he smiled at her before she hugged him tightly.

"I'm going to miss you." She said into his shoulder.

"We'll just have to find a way to meet from time to time. Also, don't forget to write." Gaara gave her one last squeeze and then leaned back. He took a step back and looked at the rest of them. "Have a save journey back home."

"Thank you, Kazekage-sama." Kakashi bowed a bit along with everyone else.

Temari held Sakura back as the rest of Konoha shinobi started walking. She raised her eyebrows and turned her head to face the blonde. Temari hugged her and whispered into her ear.

"You'll be fine." The smirk was apparent on her voice. "Besides, no one can stay depressed for long in the presence of _that._ "

The Suna kunoichi jerked her head at Sasuke's… ass. Sakura couldn't keep in the laugh that built in her throat; she'd almost forgotten how straightforward Temari was. She rolled her eyes as she walked away from the blonde.

"I'll remember that whenever I feel down." Sakura chuckled and waved one last time at the two siblings before catching up to the rest of the Konoha shinobi.

The journey through the desert was as hard as always but they kept a steady pace. They had just gotten a good night's rest on a _bed_ and had had their injuries treated. They'd also received real meals and not just the packed crap or burnt meat that they usually ate while out on missions. They only stopped for a late and quick lunch under the shade of a rocky formation, but took off fifteen minutes later.

When the sun was hitting the horizon they already were at the edge of the desert and the climate was not as harsh. They quickly found a place to set up camp and decided that team Gai would go hunting for dinner while Team Kakashi would gather some firewood.

"All right! Whoever gets something first will do five-hundred pushups!" Lee pumped his fist into the air.

"Ah!" Gai's eyes were sparkling. "That youthful spirit! All right, team! Let's go!"

Neji and Ten-ten rolled their eyes and slowly headed to the forest, while their two other team mates had left running in a split second. Kakashi looked at his team and quietly motioned towards the forest, signaling them to follow him that way.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura spoke and he turned his head to look at her as they walked. "I would like to take this chance to have some time for myself. I'd like to gather firewood on my own."

"Hm… I guess that you need that." Kakashi mused. "All right, we'll meet back here in fifteen minutes."

Sakura immediately turned around and started walking into the part of the forest where no one else was likely to head into. She saw from the edge of her eye that Sasuke tilted his head to look at her, but she didn't meet his eyes; she didn't want him to even _consider_ going after her. She had suspected that Sasuke wanted to talk to her, because he'd kept throwing glances at her ever since they stopped to set up camp and because they simply had things to talk through. Sakura needed no one to follow her right now – _especially_ not Sasuke – otherwise things could become nasty for everyone involved.

Sakura had been both dreading and looking forward to this moment ever since they left Suna. She had no way to know if Itachi would be lurking around in the forest at the moment. She wasn't even sure if Itachi would actually come to meet her at all, but she was counting on it because she had learned to trust his commitment to his mission. Nonetheless, despite not knowing if he would follow her instructions, she had to give him a chance to approach her.

The thought of meeting him was making her angsty and it was no wonder. If she got to speak to him about this, it could change the course of _so_ many things. If Itachi were to take her side, they would have a much bigger chance of stopping the Juubi from ever coming to life. They might even have a chance of stopping Danzo… though that might be too much to expect. Nonetheless, Sakura was sure that this moment would be one of the most important ever since she got there and that she could _not_ screw this up.

Her feet took her into the forest at quite a fast speed as she took some firewood that she came across, since it would do her no good to get back to camp without any at all. After a while, Sakura had walked almost 500 meters into the forest when she saw a river with a fast current from between the trees. She was going to walk that way, but the _faintest_ presence pulsated to her right. Her eyes widened and she sharply turned to face that way. She'd _never_ encountered anyone with such a good ability to conceal their presence; Sakura considered herself a good sensor and had just now felt it. Itachi had clearly been confident when masking his chakra signature – it was not a surprise through given that he'd been a rogue shinobi for almost a decade – because he had a surprised look when he jumped down from the tree – surprised in his standards anyways.

"You must be quite a sensor if you managed to spot me when I didn't want to be found." His voice was soft and low, just like Sakura remembered. She couldn't believe that no one had noticed how kind he was, no matter how much he tried to pretend otherwise.

"Well… that's something to be expected after all." She smiled and nodded her head once in greeting. Itachi would soon find out why she'd become such a good sensor…

"You should know that we can't be wasting any time." Itachi said as he turned to keep on walking away from her camp, putting as much distance as he could between himself and the rest of them. "How do you even know that Madara exists?"

"I… ah. It's a long story." Sakura sighed and took a deep breath in before speaking one again. "I… I'm from the future."

Itachi stopped dead in his tracks and sharply turned his head to look at her, his eyes glinting dangerously. "I'm not here to joke around."

"I'm serious." Sakura stepped back when Itachi took a step forward. Her heartbeat sped up and she unconsciously dropped the firewood she'd gathered. "I traveled back in time a couple years ago."

"Really?" his voice was disbelieving and Sakura felt a shiver go down her spine when she noticed his threatening demeanor. Itachi was kind, but he was ruthless when he needed to be; it was not a coincidence that he'd been a part of a criminal organization for almost a decade. He took another step forward, forcing Sakura to step back and hit a tree trunk. "How do I know you're not lying or delusional?"

"I know things that I shouldn't otherwise." Sakura swallowed hard when his eyes narrowed at her, silently demanding an explanation. She quickly went through all of the things that she was aware of and tried to find the one that would make the most impact. It had to be something that only Itachi knew and that had already happened. She didn't think twice before speaking up, almost failing at keeping the tremble from her voice. "I know the truth about the attempted Uchiha coup and their massacre. Also about Danzo's and Madara's involvement in those events."

"Not good enough." Itachi pushed Sakura further against the tree with his forearm on her collarbone. "If you've met Madara, he could've easily told you about all that."

"Let me think of something else!" Sakura closed her eyes tightly, because she needed to concentrate and Itachi's Mangekyo was not letting her focus. She finally found something else and opened her eyes to look at the older man in front of her. She knew that this was a slightly sensitive subject, so she spoke quietly. "I know that Danzo took Shisui's eye to prevent him from changing the Uchiha Leaders' minds. I also know that he gave you his other eye before dying."

Itachi's eyes widened in shock; he clearly hadn't expected her to know such a thing. His whole body was tense and he was staring up at her, clearly trying to let the thought settle. After some time, he closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

"All right. Let's say I might believe you for now." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "But I'm still wary of this whole thing."

"I know. I wouldn't believe it if it weren't me in this position."

"So, what about Madara?"

"Well… it's not _really_ about Madara. Maybe only partly." Sakura admitted and the older Uchiha raised an eyebrow.

"So, you only mentioned his name to get my attention?"

"I did. I'm sorry."

"No matter. What's the real issue then?"

"Well… in the past I come from Sasuke becomes a psychopathic criminal and the world is destroyed by the Akatsuki – or the Juubi more accurately."

Itachis blinked a couple times and frowned. "This seems… not the kind of thing that can be talked over in five minutes."

"I know." Sakura huffed in frustration. "We're already running out of time; they're probably wondering why I'm not back yet."

"Use genjutsu. Like you did when we first met in Konoha."

"Oh." Sakura's eyes widened in remembrance. Of course she had to use genjutsu for this. She had, after all, designed that particular genjutsu for this task, but had completely forgotten about it until that moment. "You remember about that."

"How could I forget? Orochimaru putting a cursed seal on Sasuke and then his older crazed face…"

"Right… So, I'll do it now." Sakura informed him and raised her hand to touch the exposed skin on his arm.

Itachi didn't fight the genjutsu that she was casting on him. Sakura's mind was quickly making decisions about what to show him, because she certainly didn't have time to show him _everything_. Her genjutsu was no Tsukiyomi, so time _did_ pass while she was using it on someone. She would show him the most important events that explained Akatsuki's actions and Sasuke losing his way.

Her mind soon became clouded with the dark and painful memories that she needed to vividly remember in order to show him. Memories that she would everyday wish wouldn't exist. She wished that she hadn't been through so much pain before and that she could regain her past innocence. However, Sakura held on to those memories at the same time. They made her _feel_ so much that she felt her carefully built composure crumble around her.

Sasuke getting the cursed seal and starting his road down the path of hate was a wakeup call for her. Sasuke deserting Konoha and Naruto leaving for training gave her the resolve to improve and become a better shinobi. Sasuke deciding to destroy Konoha after finding the truth about Itachi broke her apart, but it also showed her how fragile a person could be when lost. Konoha's destruction under Pain's command was hard, but showed Naruto's potential and it brought everyone in the village together. The declaration of war from Tobi and the Akatsuki against every shinobi village was a hit, but it created an understanding that had never existed before between nations. The destruction of the world and the countless deaths caused by the Juubi were traumatic for her, but she understood how important peace was and what really mattered in life.

After living through so much pain, Sakura became who she _was_. Her pain and all that she had experienced had molded her character and it had given her purpose. No matter how much Sakura wanted it all to go away sometimes, she still felt like it was all a too big part of her to simply erase. Despite that, the memories still managed to shake her to the core and she doubted that she would ever be able to someday look back on them with a calm state of mind.

Sakura also showed Itachi how things had changed with Konoha and Sasuke ever since she traveled back in time. She didn't know how much time had passed ever since she began the genjutsu, but when she was finished she opened her eyes to find her sight blurry with tears. She looked at Itachi, who was covering his face with his free hand – the other was still on her collarbone – and had his eyes wide in disbelief. Of course he would react like that. Itachi had always planned everything carefully in order to protect both Konoha and Sasuke. He had obviously never expected _everything_ to go _that_ wrong.

Suddenly, they both became aware of a third presence that had just jumped down onto the forest floor behind Itachi. Sakura jolted in surprise and turned her head to look at Sasuke, who was staring up at the both of them with a shocked expression. In a split second, Itachi's forearm was pressed violently against her collarbone and she felt the air get kicked out of her lungs. Before she could even try to regain her breath, Itachi's hand took hold of her jaw in a bruising manner and forced her to meet his eyes. Sasuke's voice became distant as she felt the Mangekyo Sharingan take effect on her.

"Sakura!"

When she lost consciousness and her body became limp, Itachi pulled her up against his chest with one hand. With the other one, he took a kunai out and pressed it against her throat. Sasuke, who had been halfway to where they were, stopped abruptly when he saw the blade a couple millimeters away from taking her life.

" _Itachi!_ " Sasuke hissed and glared at him. "Let her go! She has nothing to do with this!"

"She Doesn't? Are you sure?" Itachi spoke slowly, dragging the words in a patient manner.

"Don't _fuck_ with me!" Sasuke yelled and scowled at his older brother. When he went out to find Sakura, he had _never_ expected to find her being cornered against a tree by Itachi. He had been shocked to see Sakura's tear struck face and had been itching to see what face his brother had been making. What had he even said to her that had shaken her so deeply? "What do you want with her?"

"Hm… that's for me to know and for you to wonder." Itachi's face was blank when he spoke. He then pushed Sakura's head upwards, further exposing her neck, and pressed the kunai to her jugular artery.

" _Stop_!" Sasuke screamed – surprised at the desperate tone of his own voice – but didn't move forward in fear that he would cut through her neck.

"You have two options." Itachi explained patiently. "Either you come over here and fight me thus forfeiting her life, or you step back towards the forest and let her live."

Sasuke clenched his jaw and stood there, frozen for a moment. What was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to let Itachi just get away from him _yet again_? Was he supposed to let Itachi make a fool out of him? Sasuke hated that thought, but just thinking about the other option made his stomach churn. Allowing Itachi to murder yet another important person in his life seemed like a far worse defeat. Letting _Sakura_ die for his own desire of revenge sent a nauseating feeling down his throat.

"So, what is it going to be?" Itachi pressed.

Sasuke cursed under his breath, but stepped back into the forest slowly, not turning his back on his brother; he would watch _every_ move that Itachi made. The older Uchiha walked back towards the river, his eyes never leaving Sasuke and his kunai never leaving Sakura's throat. When Itachi was just at the edge of the river bank, he smiled in an almost _tender_ way. It made Sasuke boil in anger; was he making _fun_ of him?

However, every thought in his mind froze at Itachi's next actions. He put the kunai away and threw Sakura's unconscious body into the rapid waters of the river. Sasuke felt his heart stop for a moment when he realized that she would drown if he didn't do anything. His body dashed forward as fast as his legs would carry him towards the river.

As Sasuke moved closer to the river bank, Itachi took off upstream – exactly where Sasuke wouldn't be going at the moment. When their paths crossed, Sasuke's eyes met his brother's and they stayed locked upon each other as time seemed to slow down. Sasuke couldn't help the scorching _hate_ that filled him at the knowledge that his brother had attempted to kill Sakura – hopefully just attempted. He wanted so badly to just _rip_ his eyes from their sockets for everything Itachi had done to him.

Despite how mad he felt, Sasuke didn't make the mistake of getting lost in the feeling. His body turned away from where Itachi had left and followed the river where Sakura's body was going downstream.

If Sasuke had only been a bit calmer when locking eyes with Itachi, he would've immediately noticed the overflowing pride that was apparent in his older brother's eyes. And of course he had reason to be; Sasuke was just so different from the person he'd turned out to be in another life. He was putting the life of his friends before his own hate-driven goals.

 **A/N: Ok. I can't wait to hear what you guys think about this chapter!**

 **What did you think about Gaara and Sakura's conversation? Were some of you rooting for Gaara and Sakura? Some of you have mentioned that before!**

 **Do you think that Sasuke is jealous? What about his strange behavior? Sakura has many theories for that… do you think she's right in one of them? Is there ANOTHER reason why he'd upset?**

 **Itachi and Sakura's meeting… was it believable? What do you think will happen now that Sasuke saw them in the woods? Will he be suspicious?**

 **What will happen with Sakura? – of** _ **course**_ **she won't die, she's the main character and this is no GOT – will Sasuke get to her?**

 **ANYWAYS. I wanted to thank everyone who's been constantly leaving reviews. There are many readers that leave a review** _ **every**_ **chapter. It really means a lot to me to know that some people are enjoying this.**

 **I also want to thank my beta reader – MonochromeAce – for always finding time to read through the chapters. I finish chapters quite quickly – a 7-9k chapter every one or two weeks is a lot for me at least – and she always helps me out!**

 **Thank you all for reading!**


	33. Uchihas

**CHAPTER 33**

Sasuke's heartbeat was furious in his ribcage. The previous events of him finding Sakura pressed against a tree trunk by no other than _Itachi_ and his brother literally taking her as hostage were something he'd never dreamt of seeing. Not only had Itachi put Sakura under the Tsukuyomi – something that still haunted him after all these years – but he'd also thrown her into the river. If Sakura survived and didn't drown, she would be out for a while and would then wake up with at _least_ some trauma.

Sasuke's body moved alongside the rapid waters that were completely white due to the speed at which it flowed. He would've probably taken a while to find Sakura's unconscious body if he had normal eyes. Thankfully, his sharingan immediately spotted her underwater and quickly going downstream. In just a couple seconds, he was running on the bank right next to her and then jumped head first into the current.

The water was strong and it forced his body away from her, but he managed to get to her despite how deeply she'd sunken. He pulled her up towards the surface as he tried to keep the both of them afloat. The adrenaline that had already been in his bloodstream was doubled an allowed his muscles to work twice as hard against the force of the water.

As he struggled to keep her head out of the water, he pumped chakra into his limbs to try and pull them upwards and out of the water stream. Not surprisingly, using chakra on such a surface was much harder; a lake's or even the sea's shifting were so much easier to keep track of. Thankfully, Sasuke had put a lot of training into chakra control and he began to get the hang of it after a couple seconds. As the chakra on his feet half kept him on the surface and he moved them to the edge of the river, he felt guilt already taking a hold of his inner turmoil.

Sasuke had never dreamt that Itachi would threaten to harm any of his team mates. Yes, he had killed his family and he should've been aware that he would try to harm other important people to him. But it had been so long since the massacre and it had honestly felt all too relieving to form bonds again, that he had forgotten that Itachi was still a _threat_ to him and those around him. Sasuke should've known that Itachi would find out that he cared about his team mates after seeing him protect them when they'd encountered his clone last time. He should've known that they would be in danger.

If it were up to him, he would go back in time and warn his previous self about not showing who was close to him. Maybe if he'd been more careful about that, Itachi wouldn't have tried to hurt Sakura. But now it was too late, because no matter how much Sasuke tried to change Itachi's perception of whom he cared about, he would be not fooled. Itachi was evil, but Sasuke was well aware that he was also a genius. He would see right through any attempt to conceal those important bonds.

As Sasuke kept on blaming himself, he firmly held on to a stone with his free hand and then propelled them out of the water in one swift move. He landed on the ground with a _splat_ , a passed out Sakura over his left shoulder. As he lowered her down the floor, he heard someone land close to him and he immediately recognized the presence.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi was next to him now – he must've been alerted by the yelling. "What happened?"

" _Itachi_ happened." Sasuke hissed in between pants and looked up to the older shinobi. "He pulled her into a Tsukuyomi and then threw her into the river so I wouldn't follow him."

A faint look of understanding passed through the jonin's eyes – as if there were a reason for Itachi to seek Sakura out – and he the motioned for Sasuke to move away. The Uchiha moved away and allowed his sensei to take a look at the pale figure of Sakura. Kakashi kneeled next to Sakura and put his ear to her ribcage, trying to listen for a heartbeat or breathing.

Sasuke felt angst start building inside of him. If Sakura died at this point… she couldn't. She was strong. She was probably the strongest chunin in the village right after him. She couldn't possibly die _drowning_ , right? Sasuke tried to convince himself that there was no _way_ she'd die… but she was still human after all. Shinobi could also die from regular accidents like an infected wound, a disease or drowning.

After a couple of seconds went by, Kakashi shot up to a straight position, clasped his hands together and thrust the heels of his hands straight down compressing Sakura's chest. He repeated the motion a couple more times, until her body jerked sideways and she coughed up water compulsively. Kakashi immediately lifted her still unconscious body into a sitting position and leaned her forwards as she coughed whatever water was still in her lungs. When she finally seemed to stop coughing, she gagged and then puked up more water that she'd most likely swallowed when she first hit the water.

"She'll be fine." Kakashi announced as he took her motionless form into his arms and stood up. "She just needs some rest."

"Hn."

"Let's go back to camp now."

As Sasuke followed Kakashi, he had the ridiculous urge to take her from his arms. He felt that she would only be safe if he were to be the one carrying her. Which was completely unreasonable, because Kakashi was perfectly able to carry out that task without messing up. Also, Sasuke himself was pretty shaky after all that had happened and she would probably be safer with their sensei.

Nonetheless, there was something else entirely keeping Sasuke's mind busy. Sakura had been subjected to the Tsukuyomi. What had Itachi done to her? Had he tortured her physically? Had he shown her her deepest nightmares? Had he threatened her? How badly would the Tsukuyomi affect her? Sasuke could wonder all he wanted, but he would only find out when she woke up.

 **-x-**

 _Sakura's eyes shot open to see that she was surrounded by a world of red and black. The sky was bloodshot and the clouds were black – not in the way that storm clouds looked, but as if they were a fragment of darkness cut out of the sky. The world that she was in was completely empty; an endless cleared ground stretched as far as the eye could see. Sakura had never been in there before, but she was certain of where she was; Itachi's Tsukuyomi. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she became aware of a presence behind her. She turned around to find Itachi, as she'd expected, who was standing almost at arm's reach._

" _Itachi." She greeted._

" _This is quite an unusual way to talk. I have to apologize for the roughness of my behavior."_

" _Don't worry." Sakura chuckled at his formal tone. "We didn't get to really talk about anything."_

" _We didn't." Itachi nodded in agreement. "I must say that, after watching the scenes play out in my head, I'm inclined to believe your statement. There's so much that you know… all that details that you showed me. I can't imagine that you'd make all that up. Only someone who's seen those kinds of things could create such believable genjutsu. I trust that what you said is true."_

" _That's good to hear."_

" _The first subject we should discuss is the Akatsuki. I never expected things to go as badly as they did. What you showed me about the Juubi… it's a force no human should ever try to control. Maybe the doom of our species was the natural consequence of our actions. Nations have been trying to use the Biju's for their advantage for far too long." Itachi stopped for a moment, probably noticing that he was straying from the subject. "Anyways, I was expecting the Kages to take action against the Akatsuki, but is seems that we should take matters into our own hands."_

" _Yes." Sakura nodded. "After seeing what I showed you, you can imagine that taking out Madara – or more accurately Obito – is of utmost importance. Pain is also a problem, because even without Obito he will still try to obtain the tailed beasts and he can do it no problem."_

" _Yes." Itachi nodded. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to deal with Obito. I can tell that he is someone out of my league – someone I wouldn't be able to defeat on my own – especially if he's moving around with another member. He seems to be close in power to Madara… and instead of taking him out I'd planned on ways to protect Sasuke after my death, because of how little chances there were for him to die by my hand."_

" _So, I'll have to find a way to convince him like I'd planned from the very beginning."_

" _Yes. However, I believe that I can take out another member that's of great use for the Akatsuki; Zetsu. He doesn't appear to be too strong – although no one has ever seen him fight – but he's central for communications. If I deal with him, I'll allow you more time to do what you have to. After that I'll probably have to leave the Akatsuki, but I'll still try to take out as many members as I can nonetheless."_

" _That would be good." Sakura's eyebrows shot up. "I still have to say that I'm a bit apprehensive of approaching Obito on my own. He's not the same person I left in my old life… he probably will try to kill me as soon as he's aware that I know more than I should."_

" _He will. If he's like the Madara I met when I was young, he'll be extremely careful. You'll have to find a way to have him listen to your whole story or allow you to put him under a genjutsu."_

" _That doesn't seem easy at all." Sakura frowned and then sighed. "But I'll find a way to do it. Also, what about the other Jinchuriki's? Will we allow the Akatsuki to try to get a hold of them?"_

" _I don't believe that's an option. I can't blow my cover because I'd get killed and the Akatsuki would keep on extracting Biju's anyways. Also, we can't let events inside Akatsuki change too much, because things have already changed enough in Konoha. It could all become too unpredictable and we would lose our advantage when dealing with what's to come. The safest option is to simply take out the Akatsuki instead of preventing their movements."_

" _I guess you're right…" Sakura sighed. "It still doesn't sound right… letting the Jinchuriki's die."_

" _I know. But it's something that we must learn to deal with as shinobi. I can tell that you're too kind for this profession." Itachi's eyes warmed up at her and a small smile formed on his lips._

" _You're not the first one to point that out…" Sakura frowned. "And also, I know that you're kind too."_

 _Itachi smiled at her once more, but didn't comment on her last statement. Instead, the changed to subject. "The other issue that worries me is Sasuke."_

 _Sakura stayed silent for a moment as she bit her lip. "I'm as worried as you are."_

" _From what I've seen, he's not the same as he was back in your original time. I must thank you for that; you've purposefully given him another chance." Itachi looked at Sakura and she slightly blushed under his grateful eyes. "However, he still seems quite revenge ridden. I'm not sure about what we he would do if he were to find out the truth about the massacre."_

" _It's exactly what I fear too. I don't think he'd take it very well… especially since Danzo is his shishou now. He could feel beyond betrayed and try to take him out as soon as the opportunity presents itself." Sakura frowned. "He would obviously fail – Danzo has Shishui's eye after all – and then probably get executed."_

" _Sakura, you_ cannot _let Sasuke find out the truth. If he somehow finds out… you must try to contain his reaction to the best of your ability. Try to make him understand what my motives were, how important peace was… don't let him be driven mad by rage."_

" _I'll try. I don't know if I have the power to stop him if he gets too upset…"_

" _You do."_

" _I'm not so sure about that."_

" _I am."_

" _Why?" Sakura frowned._

" _Let's just say that I know my brother. I've seen more than enough to believe it." Itachi smiled._

" _What about him seeing us together in the woods?" Sakura questioned. "Won't he be suspicious?"_

" _He probably would. But I made sure to act like I was an enemy. However, I never said what I was here for, so you'll have to make up a believable story about that. I'm sure you'll find a good excuse."_

" _What about the Tsukuyomi? It's supposed to take a great toll on the body and on the mind." Sakura fidgeted a bit on her feet, a bit afraid that she would have to go through the Tsukuyomi. "Are you going to do it?"_

" _Sasuke would probably notice that something's off if you wake up right away." Itachi drawled. "You're a medical kunoichi, aren't you? Don't you have a way to induce yourself into unconsciousness for at least the next couple hours?"_

" _Actually… I do." Sakura widened her eyes. "But will it be enough? What about the trauma that people are supposed to experience afterwards?"_

" _It's not always as strong. Tsukuyomi isn't always meant to be a means of psychological torture. I could've perfectly only physically tortured you and worn your mind out until you passed out." Itachi was thoughtful for a couple seconds and then added. "Sasuke might take notice that you didn't come off too badly, but I think he won't be suspicious. After all, I just finished extracting a Bijuu after a three day long ceremony and he could assume me to be tired."_

 _Sakura almost flinched at the memory of Gaara going through the extraction, but forced the reaction back and tried to keep a plain face. "Ah… that's good to hear. I was worrying that I would have to go through the Tsukuyomi for real."_

" _I was fearing the same thing, so it's good to know that you can force yourself into unconsciousness." Itachi admitted and then stayed quiet for a couple seconds. "Actually, I didn't want to use it on you either."_

" _Why?" Sakura's eyes widened a bit. "You always seemed to be able to put your feelings aside when it came to doing what was necessary."_

" _That's right. But I've seen how important you are to my brother. You've been a great help for him and I wouldn't want to ruin that. I don't want to see him turn into the person that you showed me. Also, the Tsukuyomi wouldn't only affect your ability to keep an eye on Sasuke, but also to perform effectively against the Akatsuki."_

" _I see." Sakura looked at her feet for a moment and scratched her palms with her fingernails. There was something else on her mind, but for some reason she was a bit apprehensive of asking. "Hey… Itachi. What about you? Are you just going to stay a missing nin? Will you leave the Akatuski afterwards? What if they come find you?"_

" _Don't worry about me."_

" _How can I not?" Sakura's frown deepened. "Sasuke will be crushed if he finds out the truth and something's happened to you…"_

" _He'll be fine."_

" _No he won't!" Sakura raised her voice a bit, immediately reading through Itachi despite only having really met him that day. He wasn't planning on living after doing what he had to. "Don't throw away your life, Itachi!"_

" _I never intended to." He answered, but it did nothing to reassure Sakura. She was sure that, for some reason, he was avoiding the subject. His words could perfectly mean that he didn't think that dying would be a waste of his life._

" _Are you_ fine _with being a missing nin? You deserve better!"_

" _Why are you so sure that being a missing nin is a bad thing?" Itachi questioned patiently and Sakura was slightly taken aback by his retort, but then quickly regained herself._

" _Sasuke needs you! You deserve to go back home!" Sakura pleaded, by now knowing that Itachi wasn't planning to go back to Konoha. She took a couple steps as she tried to reach out to him, but her body didn't move forward and instead stayed still. "Danzo won't be there forever, right? We'll take him out and then we'll do you justice!"_

" _I know that you already have a lot on your plate… but take good care of Sasuke for me, Sakura." Itachi didn't acknowledge Sakura's last words._

" _Don't you want to go back?!" Sakura tried in vain to make him stay, to make him reconsider. "Don't you miss your home?! Your family?!"_

" _Good luck, Sakura."_

 _Before she could say anything else, the red and black world she was in blurred into a whirlpool. Sakura screamed for him to stop, but her voice was already fading into something incomprehensible and sounded too far away. She tried to retain whatever was left of Itachi's chakra in her body, but it was in vain and she felt her grasp on it disappear. The last moment before the genjutsu faded, Sakura remembered to channel chakra into her own brain. It forced her consciousness to shut down, and she was then engulfed by blackness once again._

 **-x-**

A throbbing headache was drumming in her temples, making it hard for her senses to work properly. Her eyelids were closed, but she guessed that she was either inside somewhere or it was already night because it was completely pitch black. She forced her eyes to open despite the dull ache that came on her eyebrows from the action.

When her vision focused she saw that it was indeed night time. She was inside a small cave that had only space for one person, so she closed her eyes and tried to sense other people around her. There were in fact several signatures close to her; six to be more accurate and two of which she was extremely familiar with. That meant she was back with the Konoha party and that they had yet to reach their village.

Sakura took a deep breath in and forced her body to sit up, her whole body aching as if she'd been out for a whole _week_. Of course she knew that it wasn't the case and that it was only the effect of her sending chakra abruptly through her system to knock her out cold. She finally managed to get to her feet and she had to lean on the wall of the cave for support until her sense of balance returned.

Sakura walked out of the cave and into a clearing as quietly as she could – she didn't want to disturb everyone else's rest – and a smile came upon her lips when she saw Kakashi sitting right next to the entrance of the cave. He'd sensed her before she exited it, so he was watching her intently.

"Sakura." He said in almost a whisper and stood up. "How are you feeling?"

"Kha – _cough –_ Kakashi-sensei." Sakura's voice was hoarse. "I'm fine. How's everyone?"

"Everything's fine. Did things back there go… badly?" Kakashi asked in a way that would seem like he was worried about her. However, Sakura knew the hidden message in the question; he was asking if she'd managed to talk to Itachi about everything.

"Actually… things went pretty good considering the situation." Sakura said throwing him a meaningful glance and nodding once. Then, just in case someone else was listening in, she added. "I'm surprised I didn't die, you know?"

"Ah." Kakashi nodded in understanding and looked relieved. _She managed to talk to him._ He then gave her a once over and put his hand on her shoulder lightly, making sure not to put any more weight one her. "Are you sure that you're all right?"

"I think I'll be fine… thanks." Sakura smiled at her teacher's honest concern. Her eyes then widened as she noticed that Sasuke was not there with Kakashi. Of course Sasuke would be fine… Itachi wouldn't _dare_ hurt him for real, right? Her worried nature got a hold on her and she frantically took hold of Kakashi's arm. "Where's Sasuke? Is he hurt?"

"He's fine. In fact, he was sitting on my spot not long ago but he went to get some rest. Actually, I had to _threaten_ him to talk to the Hokage about some made-up behavior issues because he was stubbornly refusing to get some sleep." Kakashi smiled despite him obviously having had a hard time convincing the Uchiha. "He was afraid that Itachi would come back here to finish what he'd started."

"Oh." Sakura looked at her feet and felt a small blush on her cheeks at the knowledge that Sasuke was worrying about her so much. "I'll let him sleep then."

"Actually… he only agreed to get some rest if I informed him as soon as you woke up." Kakashi sighed. "Honestly, he doesn't think I can take care of things down here."

Sakura chuckled. "I'll go find him. You can go back to sleep now, sensei." Sakura looked around and noticed that in the clearing were only Gai, TenTen, Kakashi and herself. She faintly wondered where Neji and Lee were, but assumed that if Kakashi hadn't mentioned them that they were fine so she temporarily dismissed the question. "Where is he?"

"I convinced him to go sleep somewhere a bit farther, because I knew he would get no rest around you." Kakashi signaled towards a specific part of the forest. "He left fuming that way."

"Ok. Thanks."

Sakura slowly made her way out of the clearing and into the forest. She only then realized that if it was dark, then that meant that she'd been out cold for far too short. Experiencing the Tsukuyomi did not render someone unconscious for only a few hours; most of the time people would be out for at least a couple days. However, Sakura knew that if she went back to sleep and someone noticed that she'd been up, it would seem strange and they would ask about it. So, she quietly tried to find some sort of excuse for that as her feet carried her through the trees.

However, as she moved in the dark, her eyes came upon something that she had _never_ expected to see. Also, Sakura would've possibly assumed that it'd been her imagination if not for the fact that the night had an unusually bright moon and it was casting a strong light on the ground. Right there, on the ground and leaning back on a particularly large tree, were two figures; Lee and Neji. The young Hyuga had one hand around Lee's shoulders and his other hand was holding his team mate's hand. Their heads were resting on eachother's and they had a pleased expression on their eyes. Actually… the whole scene seemed rather intimate in a romantic sense.

Sakura had to stifle a laugh at it – not due to judgment or derision – but because it was just _so_ unlikely. Lee? Perhaps. But _Neji?_ Also, Lee _and_ Neji? Who would've even imagined such a thing? Lee had been chasing Sakura when they were younger so she'd assumed that he wasn't interested in men. Then again… Lee had always been unnaturally inclined to like her as if it were his duty. Neji… well. Neji had never shown any interest in anyone whatsoever. Ever.

It was really surprising and strange to see two people who were completely opposites like that. But at the same time Sakura realized that their expressions were truly peaceful and it was quite endearing. If Sakura had to guess, the only time the two could actually spend together was when away at missions. Neji was part of the Hyuga Clan, which was not only incredibly conservative, but he was also part of the branch house. He probably had little freedom to do as he wished within the village. Did TenTen and Gai know about that? Sakura didn't think that they would mind anyways…

Lee stirred in his sleep and Sakura was broken out of her thoughts. She quickly moved along her way, praying that they wouldn't find out she'd been watching and avoid an awkward situation. She walked for another bit when her eyes came upon another figure – a lone one this time – and a smile graced her lips when she noticed that it was a raven haired teenager. Sasuke. Sakura walked towards where he was laying and kneeled next to him as silently as she could. Nonetheless, she doubted that Sasuke would be caught off guard. And she was right.

As soon as her knees were on the ground, Sasuke jolted awake and into a sitting position. In a split second, he had Sakura pinned against a tree with his hand pressing down on her neck. His eyes were wide as he tried to make sense of the situation, his eyes a blazing sharingan. He was so close to her, that she could feel his breath on her lips and her nose. It left a tingling feeling that was too hard to ignore and Sakura felt the urge to lean in and kiss him – he was just a mere centimeters away! Before her body could unconsciously move and fuck everything up, Sasuke seemed to realize who it was that he was holding against the tree trunk and hastily let go.

"Sakura!" he whisper-shouted, moved back a bit and immediately started assessing their surroundings. "What-? Why are you here? Did something happen?"

"Everything's fine." Sakura put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry."

"How are you? Are you hurt? How can you even be up!" Sasuke questioned, worry all over his face. Sakura smiled softly and nodded at him in reassurance.

Sasuke looked at her for another second – she didn't know if he was making sure Sakura was who she said she was or if he was checking on her health – and finally exhaled in relief. He sat down on the leaf-covered ground once again and gestured to the spot next to him, inviting Sakura to sit with him. As soon as she did, his hand moved to take a hold of her wrist.

"Itachi… damn it." Sasuke frowned in frustration. "Sakura, what did he do to you? Why was he there?"

"I… am not sure." Sakura frowned. "I was out collecting firewood when I thought I felt someone close by… so I decided to check it out. It turned out that it was your brother… as soon as I saw him I intended to go back to camp. But he didn't let me! He…"

"… what? He what?" Sasuke pressed.

"He didn't let me leave and he threatened me…" Sakura frowned, and not out of worry as Sasuke believed, but out of guilt because she was lying to him. She didn't want to make Sasuke go back into the darkness but he also couldn't know the truth, so she could only think of one way. Sasuke needed to see how he could've become blinded by hate but without letting him know Itachi's real intentions. "I… he must've noticed that we were friends. He said that you weren't allowed to have friends and that I was ruining your progress. He said that I wasn't allowing your hate to grow."

"Tch." Sasuke scowled. "He's always wanted me to grow strong so he could test himself... I can't believe how selfish he is. He wants me to be miserable so that he can get what he wants…" _You don't know how wrong you are, Sasuke._ Sakura wanted to tell him. Hell, she had to force herself to swallow the words. Thankfully, Sasuke spoke again. "What more?"

"He… wanted me to hurt you. Itachi said that if I didn't he would destroy Konoha." Sakura swallowed the guilt that was once more bubbling in her throat. "He wanted me to crush you and force you back onto the path that 'he had chosen for you' – his words. He wanted me to step out of the way and to push you away from me. Itachi said that I couldn't _attempt_ to ruin all that he had done to make you who he wanted you to be."

Sasuke widened his eyes for a moment and stared at Sakura, or rather _through_ her. He was in deep thought as if some realization suddenly hit him. Sakura immediately knew that he had never asked himself if Itachi's actions and words had been controlling his life. Sasuke seemed frozen like a stone for almost a full minute, until he clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes close.

"How _dare_ he… try to… _manipulate_ me like that." He finally hissed in anger. "How… I can't believe… I didn't see it before. I never… thought…"

Sasuke lowered his head and his eyes were obscured by his bangs, so Sakura didn't know what was going on in his head for a while. She finally moved her arm a bit in order to break out of his hold on her wrist, and held his hand softly.

"Sasuke…" she started and waited until he lifted his head slightly. "You're not like that. You could've become lost in darkness… but you've taken a different path in life. You obviously want revenge… but you're not controlled by hate."

"How can you be so sure? Huh?" Sasuke snorted in disbelief. "All my life my only goal has been to avenge my clan. I've always been willing to risk everything, _anything,_ to achieve that."

"I don't think so." Sakura smiled softly. "In your mind, you might try to convince yourself that you would do _anything_ no matter how much it changes you. But you're not like that; you care about people. And you proved that during this mission."

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up, as if he'd never considered himself something else aside from an avenger. As if he had never imagined himself as someone who would risk something to protect the people he cared about. After a couple of seconds, his eyes softened and a small smile graced his lips – a _kind_ smile, that Sakura had never seen on him before. She would've been mesmerized by the sight of it for longer, but she felt his hand close around her own. It was cold and a bit rough from training, but it felt so soft and kind to her that she almost didn't notice.

"Thank you." He said quietly.

Sakura swore that she would feel conflicted when she heard those words from him again, but surprisingly she didn't. It felt… right. It was as if the negative connotation it had sometimes had, was gone now. She must've dozed off for a moment, because Sasuke's hand left her's and he waved it in front of her face. Sakura immediately missed the warmth and was tempted to hold it again, but didn't.

"Hm?" she raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"I shouldn't be making this about me. What else happened with Itachi?"

"Oh… well. He was in the middle of the talking when you made an appearance… so… well. You know what followed."

"Damn." Sasuke's smile was now completely gone from his face as he scowled again. "The Tsukuyomi. If… if you want to talk about it…"

Sasuke was well aware that that particular genjutsu could play with people's worst fears. He was aware that such an experience could become a big trauma in one's life – he's experienced it first-hand. Therefore, he surely didn't want to pressure her into talking about it. Sakura could tell that he was truly worried about what had happened.

"It wasn't… psychological. It was just… physical torture." Sakura saw how Sasuke's body tensed at her choice of words and regretted her poor judgment – it wasn't even true! "I think he might've been weakened when he used that jutsu, because it didn't seem as horrible as the stories I've read in medical scrolls."

"It makes sense… after extracting the bijuu…" Sasuke wondered. "But what I don't understand is _why_ he didn't make is psychological. If he wanted you to push me away, the Tsukuyomi would have been the perfect tool."

Sakura had never thought about that. She'd decided to say that he had only physically hurt her because the toll on the general state of the victim was lower. She'd never stopped to consider that if her story stated that Itachi wanted her to hurt Sasuke, his genjutsu should've been used in order to accomplish exactly that. She decided to simply shrug. "I don't know…"

"It's… strange." Sasuke squinted his eyes in thought for a moment and Sakura felt her distrust of Sasuke partly come back to her. It was as if the state of mind in which trust had been flowing between them was suddenly _gone._ Was Sasuke suspicious of her? Had Danzo told him to keep an eye on her? Would he think that Sakura was lying? Before her thoughts could make her worry any more, he put his hand on her shoulder. "At least you're all right. I was… really worried."

"What happened when I passed out?"

"He took you hostage and then threw you into the river. I had to go get you… and he took the chance to escape." He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"I'm sorry." Sakura frowned. "You've been so close to achieving your goal so many times these past few days…"

"Yeah…" Sasuke's shoulders dropped in defeat. "It's been… frustrating. But I made the right choice… except with Kakashi."

"Have you spoken to him?"

"Yeah… before we went to sleep." Sasuke said and she felt him shift a bit next to her.

"About that day… I'm sorry." Sakura admitted, remembering their argument. "I was a bit anxious about Gaara and I guess I-"

"Don't be sorry." Sasuke cut her. "You don't have to apologize. I was the one who screwed up."

"Still. I should've known how you were feeling. Hell, I _knew_ how you were feeling. But I was just too worried and I didn't find a good way to speak to you about it."

"It's all right. We were both caught up in our own shit." Sasuke looked upwards at the full moon that was above them. "I was acting impulsively due to Itachi's presence and you were… worried about Gaara."

"Yeah…" Sakura bit her lip, having noticed the pause in his sentence.

Sasuke was quiet for a good minute or so, and Sakura felt some tension appear again. She wanted so badly to say that she was not romantically involved with Gaara and that she loved _him_ instead _._ But of course, she wouldn't say it. Sasuke hadn't even asked about it, so it didn't make sense that she even explain it to him. Sakura hoped that Sasuke would ask, because otherwise he could end up with the wrong idea.

"So…" Sasuke started, his head slightly looking away from her. "You and Gaara… why didn't you tell me?"

"What?" Sakura turned her head to look at Sasuke. Did he think that she and Gaara had been together ever since she was in Suna? …Well, it actually made sense if he believed that. Why else would Gaara almost kiss her after not seeing her since her departure?

"You didn't need to _hide_ something like that from me." Sasuke said in a calm voice, but Sakura heard the edge in his voice. Sakura immediately knew that he felt upset that she'd hidden something from him – not that it was true anyways.

"Sasuke. Gaara and I are only friends."

"Really?" he stopped avoiding her eyes and turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know why, but it's hard to believe that people who're only friends would do something like that. And then leave together for who knows how long in the middle of the night."

" _Sasuke._ " Sakura took a deep breath and tried not to get carried away by his slightly hostile tone."He did that out of nowhere… it's the only time that something like that has happened."

"He did _what_?" Sasuke gaped at her and Sakura shifted uncomfortably.

"He… uhm. He just… did it, I guess. But it's no big deal; we talked about it." Sakura knew that she should've said something different, but she couldn't think of anything at the moment.

"He… just… Sakura, you fought an S-Class criminal on your own just to get to him. You fucking _lost_ a good friend so he could live. And when he wakes up he simply… _does_ that without even thinking about how you might feel? And in front of everyone else? Are you kidding me?"

"I - uh…" Sakura bit her lip a bit.

"And you say that it's no big deal?" Sasuke pointed an accusing finger at her. "Show yourself some _respect_ , Sakura."

" _Don't_ go there, Sasuke." Sakura almost snarled. "I've learned to respect myself sufficiently and I was _not_ about to lose a friend just because he acted a bit impulsively. I am _aware_ that self-respect does not equal ego."

"Tch." Sasuke clicked his tongue, noticing that she was hinting at his own ego in her words.

"You should also think about what Gaara went through. He had felt something for me for a long time but had decided not to say anything… and then he died– not almost died, but _actually died_. He told me that in his last moments of life he regretted never telling me… and the next thing he knew he was alive and I was hugging him." Sakura looked at Sasuke with a slightly reproaching expression. "Just… try to put yourself in his shoes, will you? How would you feel if you died deeply regretting something and then suddenly a chance popped up right in front of you?"

"…" Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again as he looked down in thought.

"You also might just act on impulse, wouldn't you? If you thought that you might've lost a chance forever?" Sakura said.

"…Would I?" Sasuke spoke slowly, and his eyes bored into Sakura's with an intensity she had seldom seen on him. She suddenly felt that he was hinting at something, or maybe he was just thinking aloud.

"Anyways." Sakura looked away and cleared her throat, not wanting to argue with Sasuke anymore. The look he'd given her didn't exactly seem aggressive or upset… just strangely intense, but she was not going to take chances. "Gaara and I talked about it and we agreed that we would leave that behind us and stay friends."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah." Sakura answered and Sasuke frowned.

"Most people wouldn't be able to do that." Sasuke spoke referring to other people, but Sakura knew that he was also talking about himself. She guessed if Sasuke ever came to be in Gaara's position, he would have a hard time doing the same thing. After all, Sasuke has a huge pride and always went non-stop towards what he wanted, while Gaara was an especially humble and patient person.

"I guess." Sakura looked up at the sky, noticing that there was a faint orange tint at the horizon. It was just before the crack of dawn. "I guess we should start heading back to the others already."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded and they both stood up and stretched their bodies for a moment. Sakura was about to take a step away, when Sasuke's hand took hold of her wrist. "Sakura."

"Huh?" she turned around to face him.

"It's best that what happened with Gaara doesn't leave this group." Sasuke commented.

"Why would-" Sakura realized what the issue was before she finished her question. " _Oh_. If word of that gets to Danzo… he would doubt of the veracity of the report I did on my mission in Suna."

"Exactly." Sasuke started walking back to camp once again and looked at her one last time over his shoulder. "You should clear things up with everyone else."

"Yeah."

Sakura absentmindedly followed him through the forest, but her thoughts were on his warning. Was Sasuke actually telling her to keep something from Danzo? Was it even real? Was he truly putting her above his shishou and Hokage? Or was it all fake and he was trying to test her? Was there something that Sakura wasn't taking into consideration when it came to Sasuke?

She had to admit that she was starting to _truly_ trust him again. She only ever seldom remembered that she didn't know where Sasuke stood in regards to Danzo. Sakura feared that she would open up to him one day… and that would not necessarily end in a good way.

 **A/N: YAY! So, ok. Here goes chapter 33. What you expecting? You guys thought Sasuke would give Sakura CPR? Well… not! There's no way I was going to do that! Sorry, hehe.**

 **Also… about Sakura's talk with Itachi. Was it good? I loved writing the last part… Itachi never thinks about himself : (**

 **Also, I know that Zetsu is as much a threat as Obito and Pain, but they have NO knowledge of this. After all, in this story the Juubi got out of control before Kaguya.**

 **What about Neji and Lee? Surprising, huh? I decided to add some diversity to the story.**

 **Did you expect Sasuke to throw a jealous tantrum – do you think that would've been in character with** _ **this**_ **Sasuke? Yes? No? Do you think Sasuke has feelings for Sakura by now – and is aware of them?**


	34. Revelations

**CHAPTER 34**

The day the team had come back from Konoha, Sakura had been slightly nervous about Danzo hearing of Gaara's actions towards her. Of course, she'd taken the most discreet action to make sure team Gai wouldn't mention anything. As they had walked back home, she'd decided to make up a conversation with Tenten that lead to how Gaara had only been caught up in the moment and that they didn't share that kind of relationship. She'd also made sure to be close to the rest of her team so they would hear some of it.

It was the only way she could think of and had been pretty sure that at least Lee had heard about it. Nonetheless, she had been on edge for the first week after the mission and had been scared to have a root ANBU come to get her so she could have a word with Danzo. Thankfully, none of that had happened so she assumed that team Gai hadn't said anything. They either believed her words and her commitment to Konoha or, like Kakashi and herself, they didn't trust Danzo.

As her worries on that subject subsided, her mind started thinking about Itachi. It was hard to believe that someone could be so selfless. Sakura thought that Itachi had taken responsibility for Sasuke almost in the way that a parent would for their child; he was willing to sacrifice _everything_ for Sasuke.

However, that didn't explain why he didn't seem to plan to go back to Konoha. Now that he knew that his life as a rogue nin would no longer be necessary, he should've considered it. Why wasn't he willing to? Sasuke would be happy and so would Itachi. Of course, it would take a few years until Danzo was taken down, but Sakura was sure that it would be a good thing to keep in mind and give him purpose to keep on living. Was he afraid to get his hopes up? Did he doubt that they would take the Akatsuki down and prevent the Juubi from coming to life? Did he not think that Konoha would forgive him? Was there another reason why he wasn't considering coming back later on?

She'd wanted to try and figure more about him, but her worries had abruptly ended. Actually, they had not _ended,_ but instead focused on something else entirely.

The second week after coming back from the mission to rescue Gaara, Sakura had been working at the hospital as she had since she returned from her two-year absence. She'd been surprised to see Shizune walk up to her – which was strange because she worked in a completely different part of the hospital – and hand her an official edict. It stated that she would be raised to a much higher position in a different area run by Kabuto himself and that it would take effect the next day. Of course, it came with a huge raise in her salary, but Sakura didn't give a damn about that. Because she _knew_ , she was _sure,_ that Kabuto was putting her to work on that ' _much more interesting task_ ' he'd mentioned when she first saw him in this timeline.

Sakura was honestly scared. First of all, she didn't like Kabuto _at all_ and was pretty uncomfortable with having him as a superior. Also, she was aware that in her past life he'd had a history of human experimentation and that he was not at all concerned with ethics, as Sakura was. Sakura would rather quit the hospital and only focus on her shinobi career if things were going to go down that way. However, with Danzo as Hokage, she wasn't sure if that was even a option. Sakura could only pray that somehow, whatever changes had happened regarding Kabuto in this timeline, he would not be as twisted as she thought him to be. Sakura had her mind filled with thoughts on that matter as the entered a Dango stand after her routine morning training. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the other presence in the shop until someone called out to her.

"Sakura."

"Huh?" Sakura jerked upwards at the sound of Sasuke's voice. She saw Sasuke and Shikamaru sitting next to each other and eating their own lunches. "Hey. How are you guys?"

"Fine I guess…" Shikamaru's voice sounded as bored as always.

"Fine." Sasuke nodded. "How about you?"

"I'm good." Sakura said absentmindedly and then ordered her meal when she was asked about it.

The three of them engaged in a conversation on how Akatsuki's movements had seemed to focus on Kumogakure – where no wonder the two-tailed beast Jinchuriki lived. However, Sasuke and Shikamaru did most of the talking – as much conversation as _that_ could be considered anyways – and Sakura was mostly caught up in her worries once again.

After finishing her lunch she would have to head to the hospital once again. And meet Kabuto to ask him about her new job. It was something that she was dreading, but couldn't simply avoid. At least, Sasuke's presence made her lunchtime better; as little as he spoke, his low voice made her feel at ease.

Ever since coming back to Konoha, Sasuke and Sakura had gotten back to their usual routine. Most days, they would meet for training and then grab lunch together. What happened during the mission hadn't seemed to affect them too much, but Sakura could feel some change in his general demeanor when in her presence. In this lifetime, Sasuke had been close to Sakura for years, but he had also always been quite guarded around _everyone_ including her.

Despite him still being little talkative and nonchalant, she could now sense that he had dropped his guard even further. Whenever they met, Sasuke's expressionless mask would drop often and she would see his expressions of contentment, frustration, confusion, amusement and many other emotions with _much_ more ease. Of course, he still wasn't fond of _talking_ about how he felt, but the difference was apparent to her.

Sakura felt pride in knowing that Sasuke now trusted her enough to let his walls down. He was not against someone other than himself being aware of what he felt and what went through his head. All this time, Sakura had made sure to allow him to go at his own pace when it came to opening up to her. It had been a long time, but it was good to know that everything had paid off.

"Sakura?" her musings were once again broken by Sasuke's voice and only then did she realize that she'd been staring at him. She felt a slight blush cover her cheeks, but didn't look away fearing that it would be too obvious if she did.

"You seem distracted."

"Ah… it's nothing." Sakura waved him off with her free hand and motioned to take another bite of her Dango. However, Sasuke looked at her steadily and raised an eyebrow, probably knowing that there was something up with her ever since she walked into the food stand. He was quietly expecting her to say what was on her mind and she wondered for a moment if it would be wrong for her to tell him about Kabuto. She didn't want to keep him completely shut out, but also knew that talking to him about it would make her feel better, so she decided to be vague. "I was promoted yesterday. Today is my first day in my new position."

"You don't seem happy about that though." Sasuke pointed out.

"Ah." Sakura should've known. Sasuke could read her on the same level as her mother by now and she sometimes wondered if he was aware that she was hiding something important from him. "Well…from now on I will be working directly under Kabuto-sama."

The taste of that snake's name with an honorific tasted horrible in her mouth, but she knew that she needed to keep up appearances when in public. Sasuke frowned and eyed her for another moment before speaking again.

"Well, I know that you must be irked at that… but I don't think that it'll be half bad." Sasuke said and, when Sakura didn't answer after a few seconds, he added. "You can always go to Danzo-sama if something's up."

"Yeah. I know." Sakura smiled the most natural smile she could muster, but Sasuke didn't seem to buy it.

"I'll find you when your shift's over." He said without looking at her with a tone of finality.

"What?" Sakura raised her eyebrows at the Uchiha. "That's not necessary."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and threw her a look that signaled that he would do so even if she complained. Sasuke put the amount of money he owed on the counter and waved her goodbye.

"Ok… See you then."

Shikamaru put his own money next to Sasuke's and stood up, following the raven haired teen. Sakura was watching them leave, when Shikamaru looked at her over his shoulder. His eyes were blank and seemed bored, but Sakura had seen that _look_ in his eyes before – even though it was now more concealed. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he stared at her with what certainly was suspicion. Was Shikamaru _still_ weary of her?

She mentally slapped herself in the forehead. _Of course_ he was; he was a genius and he wouldn't possibly forget about all of the wariness he felt towards her years ago. Was he suspicious on his own? Had he talked to Danzo about it and was now keeping an eye on her? Or worse… had he mentioned it to Sasuke? Were Sasuke and Shikamaru working together to figure her out?

 _NO!_ Sakura couldn't go down that train of thought. She intuitively trusted Sasuke, she really did. She couldn't fathom him playing her all along. Also, Sasuke wouldn't allow his feelings to show in front of someone he didn't trust, right? If he wanted to keep an eye on her, he wouldn't need to pretend. Also, Danzo wouldn't recklessly use Shishui's eye on his student just like that and for extended periods of time. It was too draining and then he wouldn't be able to use it when it became absolutely necessary.

Sakura decided to not add _more_ troubles on her mind – she seriously needed to stop doing that, though she had reason to – and decided to head to the hospital. She tried to keep her mind off her worries and attempted to enjoy the scenery – 'attempted' being the key word, because she failed miserably. Nonetheless, fifteen minutes later she was walking through the entrance of the hospital and going down towards an underground area that she'd never used before – she didn't even remember seeing it in her past life. On the signs in the hallway it read _'Chronic Disease Investigation Unit'_ , and Sakura could only hope that it was not what she was imagining.

"Sakura!" a voice called and she turned around to see a friend from her previous life.

"Shizune-san?" Sakura lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "Do you work in this part of the hospital?"

"Ah… I do." She smiled, but there was an overly exhausted look on her face. Sakura wondered if it was because of working too many hours.

"That's great! I'll be seeing you more from now on." Sakura smiled, finally finding something positive in working directly with Kabuto know.

"What?" Shizune's face fell and she gaped at Sakura in barely concealed horror. "You'll be working here from now on?"

"Yeah…" Sakura bit her lip in worry. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh!" Shizune composed herself in a second and waved Sakura's question off. "No! Not at all. Anyways, I gotta get back to work. I believe Kabuto-sama is waiting for you so... see you around!"

"See you." Sakura waved the older medic good-bye and watched her disappear into a room.

A sinking feeling settled in her chest, because Sakura was certain that she hadn't imagined it: just when Shizune turned around to leave, her face had clearly displayed pity. She hadn't been afraid of Sakura or surprised by her new job. It had been plain pity at the fact that Sakura would be working in the same department as herself from now on. She heard a door open behind her and she turned around to see Kabuto looking out from the doorway in Sakura's direction.

"Sakura." The silverette called. "It's good to finally have you here, please come in."

Sakura was itching to know what look Kabuto had been displaying on his face, because his glasses had been reflecting the light from the hallway and it had blocked the view of his eyes. She would've known what to expect – hopefully – if she had been able to see, but before she could move to take another glimpse into his eyes, Kabuto was out of sight. Sakura took a big breath in and followed him into the room.

The first thing that Sakura noticed inside the _huge_ room was that there were four beds in total, spaciously placed apart from one another, surrounded by tubes and machines that she knew were meant to keep people alive. From the amount of tubes, she knew that without them the patients would've been dead long ago. On each bed, there was a _tiny_ person – a child probably not older than six years old – immobile and _pale._

She quickly walked towards the first bed and took a good look at the kid. It was a girl, or more specifically what was _left_ of her. She looked like a corpse; gray skin, no hair whatsoever, all skin and bones, black veins were noticeable through unnervingly _thin_ skin. Her face was even worse. Her lips were cracked to the point that they were no longer bound together and her nose had lost most of its cartilage, making her look anything but _human._ As soon as she took that in, she noticed that the smell in the room – despite the strong disinfectant scent underneath – was rancid and decaying.

Sakura hadn't expected to find something nice in that room, but she had definitely not expected to see something like _that_. She was an experienced medic and had seen lots of blood, lots of guts and lots of horrible diseases. She had believed that she had seen enough in her life to build a strong gut and that she would never feel like she had during her first years as a medic. However, it could've never been enough. This was _too much_. Sakura felt bile go up her throat and she had to look away and take a step back to avoid vomiting right there and then.

"Sakura-san." Kabuto's voice called and she forced herself to take a deep breath and look up at him. He was sitting on a desk on the right end of the room and motioned for her to walk closer. "Come over here."

Sakura would've answered, but she was afraid that she would lose whatever hold she still had on her bile, so she quietly did as he asked. She took a seat next to him and drew out a shaky breath. The air on that part of the room was more tolerable, and she was capable of breathing more normally once again. When she got a better hold of herself, she looked up to him with a frown.

"What… what happened to these children?" her voice was shakier than she would've wanted him to hear.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" Kabuto drawled out with a sad look on his face that Sakura wanted to wipe off with a punch. She would bet her life that he wasn't truly capable of empathy – that cruel and egoistical bastard. Nonetheless, she remained silent. "They suffer from an incurable disease that we're trying to find a cure to. As you can see, the damage to their bodies is widespread and critical, so only the most experienced medics have the ability to look after them."

"I can tell." Sakura didn't need to be told that; those children looked practically _dead_. Sakura wondered for a moment if they weren't _in fact_ corpses already, decomposing from the inside on a hospital bed.

"Your job is to monitor them and keep them as healthy as possible." Kabuto added. "You have access to the latest technology to do that and I have seen that you're capable of managing most health issues. I'm confident that you'll be able to do that."

"What? I won't be helping to find a cure?" Sakura's eyes widened and she immediately proceeded to try to dissuade him. "I'm certain that if I am supposed to monitor their development, then I would be more than useful when it comes to lab work. I will have the bet understanding of their general health state and I would also be able to have a better understanding of how the medicine is working. I-"

"Sakura." Kabuto interrupted her with a raised hand. "I do believe that you are a prodigy in medicine. However, you're only sixteen and you don't have as much field experience as would be required. I think that doing what I'm asking you to will be enough for you. If you do _your_ job effectively and hand me the information on their status in the most detailed manner, you would be making _my_ job much easier."

"I…" Sakura wanted to tell him that she had _so_ much more experience. That she had studied under Tsunade-sama for _years_ and that she also had much more field experience than he assumed. However, she couldn't tell him that. After all, his reasons were completely understandable and she had no reasonable way to convince him to change his mind without spilling out her secret. Also, Kabuto was her superior – as horrible as that sounded – and she was supposed to listen to what he had to say. So, she bit her lip in frustration and dug her fingernails into her palms. "I understand."

"I'll leave the detailed information about them on their files so you can get a good idea of what's going on. Take the chance to do so today, because I haven't seen them so stable in a while." He said signaling to thick folders that were on a self. He turned around and started walking to the door, but before opening it up he looked at Sakura over his shoulder. "I _could_ consider allowing you to work on the cure later on. Of course, it would heavily depend on your general _performance._ I'll see you before your shift ends."

Sakura watched him walk out the door with her heart thrumming in her chest. Had that been a threatening tone right there? Was Sakura imagining things just based on the Kabuto she had known in her past life? Sakura was still sure that Kabuto was not a good person, but she couldn't be sure about his motives right now. She would have to take a good look at the paperwork that was in front of her and then examine the children's health.

 **-x-**

Sakura was livid. She bit down on her lower lip once again and felt the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Her chakra was flaring dangerously and she had to try her best to keep it away from her fists. She wanted to break down something _so badly_. She wanted to yell, to walk out of that room and kick that sneaky bastard's ass. However, she couldn't do that – for now – and instead paced around the room frantically.

For the past few hours, Sakura had been reading through the files that thoroughly documented the children development ever since they'd gotten to the hospital. She also checked their bodies to have a better understanding on their symptoms and the disease they all shared – a genetic disease that didn't allow their lymphatic system to work.

At first Sakura hadn't believed that such damage could happen to someone with a lymphatic disorder. She was aware that a malfunction of that system could be critical and mortal to anybody, but with constant overseeing and with support from technology and medicine people were able to survive. Hell, Sakura didn't know of _any_ disease that would make the body suffer as much when in care of a specialist. However, these children would've been long dead even with regular specialist care. They were only alive – though barely – because of some equipment she had never seen before and that each looked as expensive as a district's infrastructure.

Sakura had looked over the files repeatedly to make sure that she wasn't imagining things. That she wasn't allowing her distrust of Kabuto to get the best of her, but in the end she couldn't deny the evidence anymore. It was only a slight disturbance in the curve of their health ratios and it could only be noticed by someone with as much experience as she had. It was small, but it presented itself repeatedly in every case.

A presence neared the room and she jerked up in anticipation. She clenched her fisted her medic uniform with as much strength as she could muster. Her glare was focused on the door before it opened.

"Sakura-san." Kabuto greeted her and closer the door behind him. "How are things with you?"

Sakura stayed silent for a moment and tried to keep whatever was left of her calm. She couldn't afford to lose her cool right now, not with Danzo in office. Maybe things weren't like she had thought. Maybe Kabuto hadn't noticed – though that would've been weird because he was as good a medic as she was. Maybe he was aware and was trying to improve the medicine. Finally, she decided to speak.

"I found something unusual." Sakura began slowly and looked up at him. "The children's state is worse than what would be expected from their disease alone."

"Oh? Is it?" Kabuto asked with a curious raise of his eyebrow.

"I imagine that you've taken a look at the case and have noticed it too. You're the head of the hospital after all." Sakura knew that her tone was anything but respectful right now, but she was slowly losing her cool.

"Of course I have." Kabuto pushed his glasses up, still by the door. "I imagine that they have a special variation of the usual disease and that's why they're worse than expected."

" _You_ …" Sakura knew that he was avoiding the subject, because he was smarter than that and she was sure that he would've notice as fast as she had. She seethed and stomped towards him with rage boiling in her veins. Kabuto locked eyes with her and she was surprised to see him wear a confident smirk. When she stopped only a couple centimeters away from him, a mad look on her face, he didn't step back. He didn't even flinch. "You better have a good explanation for this!"

"For _what_ exactly, Sakura?" Kabuto talked slowly and his calm demeanor never broke. " _Why_ should I explain myself to you?"

"These children! All that suffering and how bad their shape is… it's not due to their disease!" Sakura growled.

"Oh. Is it not?" Kabuto said, but there was not a drop of confusion in his eyes; only a mocking amusement.

"Where are their parents?" Sakura glared at him dangerously.

"Oh, they're orphans. That's just too sad, isn't it?"

"Shut up!" Sakura lost some control over her range and took a hold of the collar of his shirt. She slammed him on the wall with enough force to knock the air out of his lungs but not enough to break through the concrete. "Admit it!"

"Care to explain, _Sakura_?" Kabuto smirked despite his cornered position, not at all fazed by her aggressive approach.

"It's your _medicine_!" Sakura spoke the word as if it they were venom – which it probably was. "What you're giving them is causing their bodies to react like that!"

"Oh, really now?"

"Stop playing around!" Sakura yelled. "I saw the charts. I _know_ what I saw! I know that you're good enough to notice as well!"

"You're smarter than most, aren't you?" Kabuto smirked and lifted his glasses with one hand, completely ignoring the way Sakura was still holding him against the wall by the collar of his shirt.

"What? Didn't you predict that? You should've expected more from a _prodigy medic._ " Sakura had barely finished the sentence when Kabuto took a hold of her wrist and turned her around to face the wall instead. His body slammed against her back and now it was her turn to feel the air knocked out of her lungs. Her face was pressed against the cold surface and she had to twist her head to prevent her nose from getting crushed.

"Then again, maybe I _did_ expect you to." Kabuto leaned closer to Sakura's ear and she felt the hairs in the back of her neck stand up from disgust. "After all, you're not a regular medic. Right, Sakura- _hime_?"

"W-What?" Sakura felt confusion wash over her. Why was he using that suffix on her name? The only person who that had ever been used in Konoha had been on her shi-

"You think I didn't know? You think I called you here for no reason?" Kabuto's breath was fanning over her cheek and nose, making shivers go down her spine. She wanted nothing more to punch him away from her at the moment, but something told her that she didn't have to upper hand at the moment. "I thought you were smarter than that, Sakura- _chan._ "

"What are you talking about?!" Sakura managed to shout despite the wall that was partially over her mouth.

"I _was_ _expecting_ you to find out. After all, you _are_ the disciple of _Senju Tsunade._ " his smirk was now brushing against the hair behind her ear, but Sakura was too frozen on the spot to care.

Her mind was on overdrive as the puzzle came together in her head. All the events that had somehow changed for the worse and that she'd blamed herself for. Danzo becoming Hokage. The page missing from Orochimaru's death report. Her shishou's death. Kabuto missing from the chunin exams. It had been him all along.

Sakura now remembered how she and Obito had felt Kabuto's presence entering the cave just before they performed the time-travelling jutsu. The pain she'd felt while travelling back in time had been so overwhelming that she'd forgotten about anything else at the moment. When she'd woken up she hadn't even _considered_ Kabuto getting caught up in the jutsu. But then again, he was _also_ a prodigy when it came to medicine. If there was _someone_ that could've attained an ability similar to her Creation Rebirth Jutsu, it was Kabuto.

" _You…_ " Sakura hissed and glared from her position. "It's been you all along!"

Kabuto's smirk grew wider. "You know what the funniest part is? It was _so_ easy to tame that blonde drunk to come to Konoha. All it took was one note about her dear sensei being in danger…"

"Shut up!" Sakura's body shook in rage, but she forced herself to keep it together. Not only couldn't she blow her cover, but there were sick children inside that room – which meant that destroying the place was out of the question.

"To think that a lowlife woman like her became Hokage once. Tch. Pathetic."

" _Shut the fuck up!_ " Sakura shut her eyes tightly as she couldn't hold the tears in anymore. The _snake._ He'd been the one to do it. His filthy hands had taken away one of the most precious people she had. Sakura took a deep breath and opened her eyes to look at him with rage. " _You_ killed Tsunade. _You_ knew her weak spot."

"Oops. Busted." Kabuto's smirk only became more twisted as he looked down at her.

"I will never forgive you!" Sakura gathered herself and broke free of his hold, turning around and pushing him back a few meters. "And what you're doing here to these children… Konoha has _never_ supported human experimentation!"

"Hasn't it? You think you know everything about Konoha?"

"Shut up!" Sakura closed her eyes tightly and more tears fell down her face. "I will take this to Danzo and he _will_ take you down!"

"Would he?" Kabuto questioned and Sakura flinched at that. Did Danzo agree with even _this_?

"If he doesn't, I will make sure that everyone finds out about this and they _demand_ justice!"

"No." Kabuto's voice had an authoritative tone that he hadn't used and Sakura had to look up at him once again. His face was serious as he locked eyes with her. He took a step forward, so that he was standing right in front of her, but she didn't flinch.

"No? You think that you can order me around?" Sakura's glare intensified.

"I _know_ that I can _._ " Kabuto smirked.

" _Who-_ " Before Sakura could finish her sentence, he spoke again with a stronger voice.

"You think that I don't know why you've kept quiet about the Time Travelling Jutsu all this time? It's been all about your precious _Sasuke-kun_ hasn't it?" Kabuto's face was amused at the sight of Sakura's panicked expression. He took a step closer and she inched back towards the wall. "What would Danzo-sama think if he knew who you really are? What if someone told him about it? What would happen when he looks into your memories and finds out what Sasuke actually did when he found out who was responsible for the Uchiha massacre? Do you think he would leave Sasuke to rot in a cell? Would he simply execute him right away?"

Sakura clenched her jaw, trying to keep her emotions in check to the best of her ability as her heart beat was crazy in her ribcage. Kabuto wasn't only a twisted bastard that had killed her shishou and plotted who knows _what_ scheme. He was also someone who knew of her real past, and Sasuke's crimes in his past life. However, his past wasn't better than Sasuke's.

"I'm not stupid!" Sakura barked. "If Danzo read my memories and found out about Sasuke, he would _also_ find out about you. It would most definitely destroy the trust he has in you, however you managed to pull that off. So, it's in _both_ our interests to keep quiet about our past. I'm not taking any shit from you."

"Oh… but Sakura. There's a tiny little detail that you're forgetting." Kabuto raised his head and looked down at Sakura, increasing the apparent different of height – which already was at least a head, since Kabuto was seven years older than her. "You and Sasuke _want_ to stay in Konoha. You have history here; you have bonds here; this is your home. On the other hand, I'm only here because of a temporary convenience. If Danzo found out about my actions I would be long gone. _If_ he were to get a hand on me, I would manage to survive anyways and you know that."

That also meant that Sakura couldn't kill Kabuto in cold blood herself, because he was at least as immortal as Orochimaru by now. Therefore, he would probably also survive any poisons or diseases that she came up with. And then he would go to Danzo and spill everything. Sakura couldn't take that risk. Not only would she be doomed to a life of a criminal and a traitor, but Sasuke would be done for as well.

"You honestly think I would've brought you here without thinking about this? I was aware that you would refuse to work here at first… but I also knew that you wouldn't risk your precious Uchiha's life."

"…" Sakura was at a loss of words and fisted her hands in frustration. And fear. She felt completely helpless in the presence of this man now.

"So… my dear Sakura- _chan._ " Kabuto's sickly sweet voice made her cringe, but she didn't meet his eyes and leaned back on the wall. His thumb _softly_ wiped the tears that were still spilling from her emerald eyes and she had to suppress the urge to slap his hand away. "You _will_ obey my _every_ order. You _will_ do your job here as a medic. You _will_ quit making a fuss about this and forget about everything that hinders your performance. If you behave I will respect you as a medic. If you don't… well. I'll leave that to your imagination. Have I made myself clear?"

"H-Hai." Sakura had to lower her head and look down at her feet when she spoke the words. She couldn't look him in the eye.

"Good. Your shift is over, so you may leave." He said with a monotone voice and moved a couple steps away to open the door for her.

Sakura shakily took off her medic uniform and hung it on a perch, quickly took her stuff and hurried towards the door. She felt Kabuto's eyes on her back as she walked down the hallway and towards the stairwell. Sakura fought the tears and the panic that she was feeling all along, at least until she was out of the damned building and hidden in darkness of the night.

When the cool of the night enveloped her again, Sakura felt her walls crumble once again and her expression became panicked again. She hiccupped and clasped her hand over her mouth, covering the sobs that were starting to slip out. Her eyes were blurry and she kept her eyes trained on the street that was just a couple meters ahead. The street lights were not able to fully lighten the place at that hour of the evening, so Sakura was hoping to hide in the shadows and get home as soon as possible.

However, before she could move out of the front garden of the hospital and into the main street, a hand closed around her shoulder and swiftly turned her around. Sakura gasped in surprise and looked behind her with wide eyes and a teary face. In front of her was no other than Sasuke. Of _course,_ he was. He had told her he would be waiting for her after her shift that day, but Sakura had been too busy worrying about Kabuto to remember that.

 _Shit. Shit. This is bad._

"Sakura?" Sasuke's face was deep with worry the moment she laid eyes on him, so he must've noticed her state of mind when she walked out the doors. "What's wrong?"

"No-nothing. It's nothing." Sakura quickly wiped the tears off her face and tried to force a smile. However, she was aware that her agitation was still too noticeable, which was confirmed by Sasuke's frown. "It's nothing, really. There was just a bad case back there, that's all."

"Bullshit." Sasuke eyes never left her. "Tell me the truth."

"I am! I just over reacted, that's all." Sakura clenched her fists at his insistence.

"I _know_ you, Sakura. I know you wouldn't be like _this_ if it had just been a bad health case. Even a death." Sasuke stated with a dead serious face, his voice raising a bit. "Now. _What_ happened?"

"Just – stop." Sakura covered her face with her open palm and breathed shakily. "I can't talk to you right now."

Sakura turned around and was about to go home, when Sasuke firmly took a hold of her wrist and spun her around once again. Sakura twisted her hand out of his hold and glared at him, but she was still so shaken by the events with Kabuto that she didn't have the emotional strength to meet his stare with her own.

"Sakura…"

"I don't owe you an explanation, Sasuke!" Sakura yelled clenched her eyes shut, not wanting to see his face when he said those words.

"Stop acting like a brat, Sakura!" Sasuke's jaw was clenched and he took a step closer to her. "I know that something important happened!"

Sakura felt cornered. Sasuke was _not_ going to let her go without an explanation. However, their argument was interrupted when a third presence jumped right next to them and eyed them cautiously. It was a root ANBU, and Sakura had to look away from him to cover the dismay on her face. Her heartbeat became even wilder if possible, and her hands were shaking at her sides.

"Is something the matter, Sasuke-sama?" the female root ANBU asked in a monotone voice.

"It's something personal; nothing of relevance. You may leave." Sasuke nodded his head once.

"Hai."

When the root ANBU left, Sasuke slowly turned his head to look at the pink haired kunoichi once again. Sakura was certain that his eyes were boring into her face even if she wasn't looking at him. She couldn't bring herself to meet his eye, because she would see his questioning glance. He definitely noticed how she'd become more paranoid when the ANBU arrived, because he had been standing too close to her and because he knew her too well. Sasuke was not an idiot. He must've known immediately that whatever the issue with Sakura was, it was something that she didn't want Danzo to be aware of. After what seemed like minutes of silence but were only a few seconds, Sasuke took a hold of her wrist. Sakura was surprised by the gentleness of his touch – he was barely touching her actually.

"Come. We'll talk at my place."

Sakura allowed Sasuke to lead her to his place in a daze. His hand around her wrist was warm and soothing, but Sakura _didn't_ want to let her guard down. She could _relax_ now. Everything was becoming a huge mess that she wasn't sure if she would be able to get out of.

She could've _never_ been prepared for this. What kind of explanation, what kind of excuse could she make up now? At this point, not only was Sasuke certain that something big had happened, but also that she didn't want the root ANBU to find out. Maybe a level-headed Sakura would've found a plausible lie, but Sakura was anything but level headed by now. Her heartbeat was still erratic and she felt adrenaline pumping through her veins, telling her to run away and hide until Sasuke somehow forgot what he had seen. Hide until Kabuto suddenly disappeared because of magic. Hide until Danzo was no longer alive. Hide until the Akatsuki was dealt with by Itachi and Kakashi.

Sakura looked at the back of Sasuke's chunin vest as he led her down the streets towards his place. His presence, usually one to give her peace and help her find purpose, was now a source of apprehension. Was she supposed to run? If she decided to do so and Sasuke went after her, he _would_ find her. What then? What would happen if he decided to let her go? Would she leave Konoha just to never see him again? What if she followed him home and allowed him to ask questions? Would she have an alternative answer by then? Would she have to tell him the truth about everything?

Sakura noticed that she'd run out of options when Sasuke quietly opened the door to his apartment and softly pulled her inside. When the door clicked closed behind him and she saw him cast a jutsu against eavesdroppers, Sakura gulped in anticipation. Sasuke bent down and slowly took off his ninja sandals, not saying a word to her and not turning the lights on. Sakura quietly did the same, putting her shoes neatly next to his, and then stood up once again. Sasuke was standing between her and the door and she didn't want him to say anything yet – preferably ever – so she walked into his living room on her own.

When she got there, she moved to a wall and supported her back on it. Her hands nervously played with the hem of her shirt and she purposefully avoided looking towards Sasuke, who was moving to sit down on the couch. He quietly sat down at the other end of the room and then… _nothing_. A deep and tense silence enveloped them for what seemed like forever. Sakura even wondered a couple times if Sasuke was still there and she would look up to find him _staring_ at her, to which she would immediately look away. His eyes were _intense,_ questioning, inquiring, worried… frustrated?

Sakura wanted to say something to kill that unnerving silence that was no doubt driving not just her insane, but Sasuke too. But she didn't know what to say. She knew what Sasuke was expecting, but she didn't dare say anything. She finally decided to simply meet his eyes purposefully. Their eyes locked and he observed her in silence. Sakura watched as his face became increasingly frustrated, until he finally stood up in a sudden move and growled.

"Damn it, Sakura!" he whisper-shouted, not wanting to startle her further. "Aren't you going to say anything?!"

"…" Sakura stayed silent and bit her lip. "I'm sorry…"

"Sorry? What should you be sorry about? You've done nothing wrong. I'm just worried!" Sasuke admitted and both of them were startled at his sudden bluntness – it wasn't every day that Sasuke would openly say what he felt.

"…" Sakura bit her lip and saw Sasuke deflate at her lack of response. His eyes dropped and his demeanor became much gloomier than before.

" _Why…_ " Sasuke whispered, his eyes still on the ground. "Why don't you trust me anymore?"

"What?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"You think I haven't noticed?" Sasuke looked up and there was annoyance and disappointment written all over his face. He took long strides until he was standing right in front of Sakura and his eyes sharply stared into her own. "Ever since you came back to Konoha… you are wary of me. You don't _trust_ me."

Sakura's eyes widened at that and she felt her heart clench. It had been almost two months ever since she came back from her long-term mission… Had he known about her distrust _all_ this time? It killed her that he was aware of that, but Sakura didn't know how to deal with this _now._ She was too anxious to be able to talk to him about such a delicate matter. She didn't want to spill anything about Danzo to him. "Sasuke I don't know what you're talking a-" 

"Don't!" Sasuke growled and slammed his open hand on the wall on which Sakura was leaning on, startling her. He noticed her reaction and his eyes immediately softened. He took a deep breath and then talked in barely a whisper. " _Stop_ lying to me, Sakura. Did you really think that I wouldn't notice the way you sometimes look at me? Do you know how hard it's been for me to see your distrust?"

"…" Sakura felt her hands shaking, partly from nervousness and partly from his expression. He was openly _sad_ and he was definitely hurt by the fact the she didn't trust him.

"Sakura. Don't be an idiot. Right before you left Konoha, you asked me _not_ to trust Danzo. You told me to be wary of him and keep my guard up. Don't you think that if I didn't care about you I would've already told Danzo about that? Do you think that I would've kept my mouth shut all these years?"

Sakura felt her breath caught in her throat at Sasuke's admission of the fact the he cared about her. Her eyes were teary once again and she closed them tightly. Of course Sasuke wasn't on Danzo's side… he had already seen enough to have Danzo take a look into her. Sakura also understood how Sasuke felt and it was horrible knowing that she'd been the cause of his distress. However, she couldn't blame herself for being wary – especially when she was keeping so much from everyone, especially when she knew just how manipulative Danzo really was.

"I'm sorry…" Sakura whispered as she opened her eyes, that were now teary and looked at Sasuke's obsidian orbs. His eyebrows were furrowed and his jaw was clenched in a disheartened manner.

"Listen." Sasuke took a deep breath and straightened up, his hand leaving the wall and falling back beside him. "I can see why you told me to keep my guard up back then. Danzo doesn't care about _how_ he rules Konoha, as long as the job gets done. He also didn't care about _how_ he pushed me to get stronger, as long as I became a worthy apprentice. He often used my hate towards Itachi to pull me further; he talked about him while I was training to fuel my anger. He sometimes succeeded and I lost my mind back there… but then I would remember your warning. I didn't want to lose myself. I'd been down _that_ path before team 7 was formed and I didn't want to go back there. So I tried to see through his words and consciously started doing the opposite of what he wanted… I tried to open up to more people and keep my head straight."

"Sasuke…"

"If you hadn't talked to me back then, I would've certainly become completely lost in hate once again. Thank you." Sasuke nodded once and Sakura was about to speak, but he raised a hand to keep her quiet. "I wanted to talk to you about what had happened while you were away... but when you came back and I saw that you didn't trust me…"

Sakura immediately circled her hands around Sasuke's neck and buried her face in his shoulder, hugging him tightly. She felt his hands circle around her back to bring her closer to him. She took a deep breath in and felt her body relax. Sasuke wasn't lost like she'd feared. He was the person she'd left when she went to Suna. He was the Sasuke that had formed a team with her and Naruto and the one she'd seen turn into a much more caring version of himself. Not just that… he'd been consciously fighting the darkness inside of him all this time. He had worked to become someone he was proud of, someone he _wanted_ to be.

"You don't know how glad I am to hear this from you…" Sakura said into his shirt – that by now was wet with her tears. "I'm sorry that Danzo tried to use Itachi to push you into the direction he wanted you to follow. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you when that happened."

"You were." Sasuke mumbled into her hair and Sakura felt a smile tug at her lips.

"I don't know if it's right for me to say this… but I'm proud. It must've been so difficult for you, but you pulled through. Hell, I don't know if I would've been able to gone through all that. You're strong, Sasuke, you really are. And Sasuke. I'm sorry that I didn't trust you… I just… you should know that I had reason to be wary of what Danzo might've done with you."

"Aa."

Sakura wondered for a moment if Sasuke was better off than she'd imagined. Was he even pursuing revenge anymore? If he wasn't then maybe… maybe she could talk to him about everything. So, she pulled back and looked into his eyes. "You still want to kill Itachi?"

Sasuke snorted. "I still hate Itachi and I _will_ kill him whatever chance I get. Sakura, he killed my clan, he _massacred_ my family. I could _never_ let him live after that."

Sakura felt slightly disappointed; for a moment she'd felt a tiny spark of hope that he wasn't so head on revenge anymore. That if she told him the truth about the massacre, he'd be able to accept is a part of Konoha's history and as a twisted manipulative plot made by the council _._ That maybe he'd resort to have a trial or something… but it seems that she'd been dreaming too big.

From the looks of it, he would be even more angry towards Danzo after everything that had he'd done. He would either desert Konoha – and be hunted forever by Danzo, who wouldn't allow _another_ Uchiha to escape his grasp – or try to murder Danzo on the spot, probably failing and getting executed. After all, Danzo was hard to kill and had connections everywhere. Sasuke also had to know about all of that; he was his apprentice after all and must've seen all that he did. She was suddenly curious about what he thought of Danzo's ways.

"What about Danzo?"

"What about him?"

"Do you agree with how he rules Konoha?" Sakura asked.

"I… don't know." Sasuke admitted with a frown. "I can tell why you don't agree with him at all – you are too kind – and I know that it's questionable. But…"

"But you're not sure if you disagree with him." Sakura finished for him. Of course Sasuke wouldn't be openly against Danzo's ways; after all, he was an Uchiha and had been raised in an authoritative clan, that pretty much resembled a monarchy.

"Aa." Sasuke sighed. "I _see_ where criticism might come from… but I also understand him. He's willing to risk anything for Konoha to grow as a shinobi village. What he's done is questionable, but at the same time our nation is better off now. I… it's complicated."

Sakura stayed silent for a moment and looked at him in deep thought. She didn't want to press Sasuke on that matter. After all, sixteen was still a too young age to have a formed opinion on politics. Actually, given that Danzo had been teaching Sasuke all this time, it was surprising that he hadn't been turned into a tyranny supporter. Of course Danzo must've taught him the positive side of having a controlling state and probably hadn't allowed him to question the system at all. In addition to that, Sasuke had been raised in a Clan that worked practically like a monarchy, which only supported Danzo's ways further.

However, and at the same time, Sasuke was smart and wouldn't easily buy everything he was fed – as long as it didn't involve Itachi. He was naturally critical and analytical when his emotions were involved and he would question Danzo despite his own upbringing. So, in turn, Sasuke was obviously conflicted. He'd been taught the benefits of a Danzo's ways, but his mind still resisted accepting it as something _good._ It was more than Sakura could ask of him and she was certain that he would grow to question Danzo with time. If he hadn't become a blind follower by now, chances were that he wouldn't ever.

"I take it you don't like him at all." Sasuke broke her out of her thoughts.

"Ah, I don't." Sakura nodded. "I can't stomach the thought of what needs to be done…"

"I know." he smirked. "I sometimes wonder if you're fit to be shinobi."

"What?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, slightly put off by that.

"Don't take it the wrong way, Sakura." Sasuke shook his head. "I mean that you are too ethical and you always want to do what you think is right. Shinobi are meant to follow orders, nothing more."

Sakura couldn't deny that. He was right. So, she simply shrugged and let out a small laugh, which earned her a small smile from Sasuke in return. However, Sasuke's smile soon vanished and his eyes became observant once again. Sakura wondered what was on his mind, but she didn't need to ask, because he voiced his thoughts on his own.

"So. Are you going to tell me now?"

"What?"

"What happened at the hospital?"

"Oh."

Sakura's head was once again filled with the memories of the sick children and Kabuto's threats. Standing with Sasuke in that room and talking about Danzo had made her completely forget why he initially took her to his place. She didn't even know what to tell him. His eyes were boring into her own with patience; he seemed to be willing to wait as long as he had to until she spoke. She _knew_ that she couldn't walk away from him without a proper answer. He could find out if she made something up and he wouldn't buy a lame excuse either.

"Well?"

"I…" Sakura gulped. Sakura's thoughts went back to Itachi. She had promised she wouldn't put Sasuke in danger. She had _promised._ She couldn't go back on her word now, no matter how much she wanted to respond to Sasuke's words. "I'm sorry… I can't tell you."

"... Tch." Sasuke frowned and was about to turn around to walk away, but she held onto his hand.

"Wait. Please." she asked quietly. Thankfully, he stopped moving away and looked back at her silently. "Sasuke... I want to tell you. I really _want_ to. But I can't do that. It's... complicated."

"You could _try._ " Sasuke said through clenched teeth, obviously upset about her refusing to tell him what was going on.

"It's not just about that. I... I can't tell you. Not yet." Sakura looked down at her feet and bit her lip. She didn't want to lose Sasuke's trust, not now that he had opened up to her. "I _need_ you to trust me though, Sasuke."

"How can you expect me to, when _you_ don't trust _me._ " Sasuke said in a dead serious voice.

"No! It's not that I don't trust you, Sasuke! I just _can't_ tell you. I... it's not just up to me. It's not something that would affect only me." Sakura realized that he still seemed unconvinced. She would be damned if everything went to hell with Sasuke. She took a deep breath in and then sighed slowly. "I... don't walk away from me now. Please."

"..." Sasuke frowned a bit.

"I _know_ that it sounds selfish... I _know_ that it's unfair." she closed her eyes tightly and pressed her lips into a tight line. "I wish I didn't have to keep this from you... or from everyone else... but I _don't_ have a choice."

"Sakura." she was startled, not by his voice, but by the feeling of his hand cupping her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw that Sasuke was looking into her eyes with worry written all over his face. "Are you in danger?"

"I..." what could she say? Of course, what she was doing was dangerous. But she'd been in danger ever since she came back with the knowledge of years into the future. Besides, if she told him that she was in danger, he certainly wouldn't leave the subject alone. But... _how_ could she even lie to him again? The guilt was eating her inside, but she also knew what needed to be done. So, she decided to say a half truth. "I think I'm fine for now."

"... Damn it, Sakura." Sasuke growled as his hand slipped from her cheek down and fell on the crook of her neck. He looked into her eyes and whispered. "You will tell me if something goes wrong, won't you?"

"I will." Sakura nodded, trying to not think of the way his hand on her neck made her feel.

"And you _will_ tell me what this is all about eventually." it was more of a command than a request.

"Yes." Sakura nodded. She truly believed that she would be able to, someday.

"Does this have something to do with what happened back at Tsunade's funeral?" he suddenly asked.

"What? Why would you think that?"

"It's the only time I've seen you act like this."

"I..." Sakura swallowed and nodded. "It does."

"So, this isn't _really_ about Kabuto or your work at the hospital, is it?"

"Not really." Sakura admitted – it was the truth after all, it was not _truly_ about Kabuto – and he was going to ask something else, but Sakura stopped him. "Don't ask anything else. I can't tell you..."

"I _know_ that something big is going on." Sasuke sighed and his hand dropped from her neck, making her immediately miss the warmth of his palm. "But I will trust you to tell me."

"Thank you!" Sakura grinned, an honest smile on her face. "I'm sorry too. About this and about not trusting you with Danzo earlier."

Sasuke nodded and then looked at her for a moment. "You look beaten. Let's get you home."

As they walked back home, Sakura's head cleared a bit and she managed to get her feelings and thoughts in check. On one side, Kabuto was a big issue that she hadn't anticipated. It would make things difficult for her... and she still wasn't sure if she would be able to deal with it. And what she was supposed to do if she ever decided to deal with it.

However, at the same time, something had changed between Sasuke and her that day. She felt as if a barrier had disappeared from between them. She finally felt like she could trust him for real. Of course, she couldn't tell him the truth about her time travel yet... but knowing that he cared was more than enough. Knowing that he trusted her enough to tell her how he felt and to accept that she didn't tell him everything was more than enough.

That fact made _everything_ – Kabuto, Danzo, the Akatsuki, the Juubi, her memories of her past life – completely worth it.

 **A/N: Soooooo… everything's coming together now, isn't it? It** _ **was**_ **strange that things had changed some much from canon, right? Kabuto not attending the chunin exams… Tsunade dying… Sarutobi resigning and Danzo becoming Hokage...**

 **WHEW! IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET HERE! (it was all planned since chapter 1 after all!) Actually, some of you guessed right in some reviews! Kabuto indeed travelled back in time.**

 **I assume you have some theories of what Kabuto has been doing and how he's been pulling strings. Tell me about them!**

 **Also. I** _ **know**_ **that Itachi used genjutsu on Kabuto to make him overcome his dark side… well. Just assume that it hasn't happened on this version. Kabuto simply joined the fight against the Juubi because the world was falling apart and it was out of control. After all, he wouldn't want to rule a world in which nothing existed… who would, right?**

 **Then… Sasuke and Sakura's talk. Things are starting to become more emotional between them. I'm hoping that their interactions were to your liking. What do you think of how much Sasuke has changed? About his time training with Danzo? His thoughts on how he was being manipulated? Sasuke has come a long way, hasn't he?**

 **Please let me know what you think about this chapter!**

 **THANK you all for your continued support. It really means a lot when I read your comments!**

 **And last but not least... thanks to my beta reader MonochromeAce!**


	35. Hope

**CHAPTER 35**

" _What should I do?" Sakura's voice was bit shaky after narrating the events._

 _She looked up at the silver haired jonin in front of her with questioning eyes. His expression was understanding and worried. She wondered what he thought about everything she'd just told him. About Kabuto coming back in time with her and about him blackmailing her. About the conversation she and Sasuke had back at his place. She'd had to wait almost a week to talk to him about it because he'd been away on a mission. She'd wanted to take action on her own and decide what to do, but knew that she needed Kakashi's advice on this subject. After all, she was well aware that since she was being cornered, she might make a wrong decision._

" _Sakura." Kakashi's voice broke her train of thought and her focus was brought back to the conversation at hand._

" _Yes?"_

" _You can't do anything."_

" _What?" her eyes widened. "_ Nothing? _Are you kidding me?"_

" _I'm not." Kakashi closed his lone eye for a moment._

" _Kakashi. You don't understand. I_ can't _take part in Kabuto's actions. I know that he's up to something bad and so do you. It's also completely against my code of ethics…"_

" _I know, Sakura." Kakashi nodded. "But you have to think about this while taking the whole picture into account. If you were to refuse to help him out, not only would you be endangering yourself and Sasuke. You would also be endangering your_ real _mission. And besides, if you managed to get out of this without Danzo finding out, Kabuto would still keep on doing whatever he's planning."_

"…" _Sakura knew that Kakashi was right._

" _You yourself said that he was almost immortal by now. The risk of going against Kabuto at this moment is too high and you probably would only cause more trouble in return. And those children would still end up stuck there." Kakashi looked at the pinkette's heartbroken expression and he sighed. "I know this is hard Sakura… but you have to be strong."_

" _Strong?" Sakura hissed and felt slightly angered at her former teacher's perspective. "This has nothing to do with being strong! This is downright evil! I can't_ do _this!"_

" _Shinobi have to do what needs to be done." Kakashi explained. "It's always been the way our profession works."_

" _You sound like Danzo." Sakura bit out without thinking, but she immediately regretted her words and her shoulders dropped._

" _Do I?" Kakashi's answer was quiet and even, but she still knew he was a bit affected by that by the way his visible eye looked downwards._

" _I know you're not like him." Sakura sighed. "It's just… I don't know how long I'll be able to take it. I've been working with him for a week and you don't know how I've felt. It's been horrible… I feel like I'm betraying myself. It's the worst thing I've ever felt… I've felt sad before. But this will destroy me if I don't do anything. …What if this changes me, Kakashi?"_

 _Kakashi's eyes softened once more and he put a hand on her shoulder, drawing comforting circles on it. Sakura felt tears form in her eyes, the idea of what she had to do breaking her before she even began._

" _Sakura. I can only imagine how hard this is for you… I can't force you to do anything. But you came to me looking for advice." Kakashi said softly. "I'm_ certain _of what that advice is. Don't do anything against Kabuto for now. If you do… you won't have to struggle against the perception of yourself, but instead it'll create so many more problems. We_ can't _take that risk._ You _can't take that risk."_

"…" _Sakura's tears fell down her face and she covered her eyes with her hand._

" _Listen. Let's just go along with what we agreed on when you first came back to Konoha. We won't do anything against Danzo – or Kabuto – until the Akatsuki is dealt with. Or until we find a way to deal with both problems at the same time. I'm not saying that we let Danzo and Kabuto win, but we will choose our battles strategically. We will strike and bring them down, but we'll do it when the time comes. I know that Kabuto is a big threat, but the Juubi is a much bigger one and you know that."_

" _I know…" Sakura admitted._

" _Also, I can't imagine how you'd be able to deal with the Akatsuki, Danzo, and Kabuto at the same time."_

" _Sounds… impossible." Sakura admitted and Kakashi nodded once._

" _Also, you can't tell Sasuke about anything." he added. "I know how you feel about him and from what you told me I can imagine that by now you're important to him. I know that part of you wants to include him in everything. But Sakura, this has nothing to do with personal feelings. This has everything to do with strategy and tactic. As a shinobi, you are allowed to have feelings, but you can't_ act _upon them when so much is at stake. You_ need _to endure this while it's necessary. You don't need to create any more issues when it comes to Kabuto or Danzo and you can't get Sasuke involved, because he might not react well."_

" _I… I know what you're saying. I just…" Sakura took a shaky breath in. "I don't know how I'll be able to do all this."_

" _Personally, I've never experienced – or heard of – a mission as difficult as yours. But I've seen you come a long way and I know that you'll be able to pull through. You won't break, I know that." Kakashi's eye crinkled in the way that Sakura knew it did when he smiled. However, she couldn't bring herself to be as confident as he was and sighed._

" _I hope you're right."_

 **-x-**

Kakashi turned out to be wrong; Sakura wasn't doing well. After another two weeks of working with Kabuto she was starting to feel _too_ trapped. She felt like she was going to lose control over herself any moment.

What she was doing was… horrible. Actually, Sakura wasn't doing anything horrible to the children _herself_ – since she was actually healing them – but she was still contributing to something horrible. She was keeping her mouth shut about everything. She was allowing those actions to continue. Sakura was well aware that Kakashi was _right_ about his logic, but he was wrong when it came to how Sakura would deal with all of that. She wasn't coping.

Sakura was afraid that any day she would snap and do something that would create suspicion. She was afraid that Sasuke would find out somehow – because he was too keen and observant and she was having too much trouble hiding her current state of mind from him. The only thing that had been keeping her from going _nuts_ was the company of the people the cared about; Sasuke, Ino, and her parents.

Nonetheless, no matter how badly Sakura had been feeling on the inside, she had decided that she couldn't let it show. She couldn't let anyone figure out that she was feeling troubled – which was an understatement – because it could lead to someone finding out about. So she had managed to keep an easy façade when she was around other people. Or so she'd thought.

One day, as she was serving herself some dinner at home, she felt her mother's eyes on her for longer than usual. Sakura didn't want to look her way, because she was worried about what she'd see in her mother's eyes. It didn't matter though, because Mebuki spoke anyways.

"Sakura."

"Hm?" Sakura answered without looking at the older woman.

"Come sit with me for a moment."

"Ok." Sakura put a smile on her face and took her dinner to the table, where her mother was seated. She started eating quietly, trying as much as possible to avoid any talking. Because as soon as Mebuki had called her over, she'd known her acting had not been good enough to fool her _mother,_ who always seemed to know when something was up.

"Sakura, tell me. How have you been?"

"Hm? Good."

"Look at me." Mebuki asked and Sakura had to look into her eyes. She was looking not at her eyes, but _right into_ them – into her. "Something is going on."

"Why would you say that?"

"I _know_ you. You can't fool me. I've noticed that you've seemed troubled for months… I decided to let it slide and wait. But lately I've noticed that you look worse." She stopped talking for a moment. "You know that you can tell me anything, right?"

"I… you're right. I've been feeling a bit stressed lately." Sakura admitted, knowing that there was no use in hiding her feelings anymore.

"Is it Sasuke?"

"What? No, not at all. Why would he be the reason?"

"I don't know." Mebuki shrugged, but there was a knowing look in her eyes. Maybe she knew that Sakura cared for him a lot more than she let on.

"It's… the hospital." Sakura sighed. It was not a lie after all. "I've been having trouble dealing with people who are dying… or that die. It takes a greater toll on me than I expected."

Mebuki frowned. "Maybe you should reconsider your line of work if you feel that way."

Oh, how Sakura would _love_ to stop working at the hospital at the moment. But that was not an option. "I like what I do; I love helping people out. I just think that I'll need some time to adjust."

"Don't worry." Mebuki smiled softly. "Listen. Our family has a history of strong women. You know how my mother left her hometown when she was no older than twenty after my father died? She came to Konoha and raised me all on her own. She took care of the house, she looked after me and she worked to keep our family going. She didn't have help from anyone – she didn't have any family here – and pulled through anyways. The strength I saw in her eyes I also see in yours. You are just as strong and you have a strong will. I _know_ that you will manage to pull through when it comes to doing what's right."

"You really think so?" Sakura's eyes softened at her mother's words.

"Mh-hm." She nodded. "You're an outstanding young girl. Stronger and more mature than many adult women. I'm so proud of you."

Her mother held her hand softly and drew circles on the back of it. Sakura had forgotten how good it felt to lean on her mother. If there was someone that always managed to make her feel better and feel _stronger_ and more capable, it was her mother. Sakura actually admired her; Mebuki was strong willed, wise, patient, and _smart._ And she couldn't help but believe her. Her worries suddenly felt just like a passing storm, not like a quicksand where she would be trapped forever.

"Thank you." Sakura's smile was honest. "I feel better now."

"Of course you do." Mebuki smirked. "Don't forget that you're capable of doing whatever you feel that you want or need to. After all, _I_ raised you. Well, your father too, but that's not the point."

Sakura laughed at that. It was only seldom that her mother used humor, but whenever she did it only meant that she was being truthful. Sakura and Mebuki spent a good hour talking about. Sakura intently heard the story of her grandmother once again – who her mother looked up to very much – and felt her spirit lifted. So, when Sakura finished her dinner that night, she went up to her bedroom and sat in her bed.

Sakura had been feeling trapped for months. Like a heavy burden was on her and that she _had_ to deal with – because there was no one else do to so – but that felt just like too much. Like she didn't have the strength to do what had to be done. To do what she _knew_ needed to be done. But hearing her mother talk about everything that had happened to her grandmother, how she'd dealt with everything at the same time, how she'd pulled through even when feeling like she couldn't take it all on her own… it made her reconsider. Of course, Mebuki didn't know in regards of _what_ subject Sakura had taken her words… but still.

For the first moment in a long time, Sakura actually felt grateful. She had a great family who supported her and loved her no matter what. She had Sasuke this time around, who she now knew cared about her. She had Naruto's golden friendship too and, even when she hadn't seen him for almost half a year since his visit to Suna, writing to him always kept their relationship intact. She had Ino, who she didn't visit that much, but whenever they met their friendship was proven to remain as strong as always. She had had Chiyo's and Tsunade's – two outstanding women – guidance and support. Sakura had also gotten a second chance in live. To save everyone. To make things right and to feel _proud_ of herself.

Sakura knew that if she didn't do what she was certain was right, she would have regrets all of her life. She would look back and think 'why didn't I try?'. On the other hand, if she did what she needed to do now, she would look back with pride. She wouldn't have any regrets and she would come out stronger and more confident than before.

Of course, there were some things that weren't in her hands. Sasuke's reaction to the truth would be something that was not up to _her._ So, no matter how bad it felt to keep the truth from him, she couldn't simply jump and impulsively act. On the other hand, what she _could_ control were her own actions.

Sakura had been too afraid to do anything against Kabuto or Danzo because she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to deal with it. That it would be too much for her. But now, finally feeling a sense of rightfulness and trust in herself, she decided that she _could._ She would do whatever was I her own power to do what had to be done. She would make sure that, when she looked back years later, she would not feel ashamed of being afraid. She would know that she didn't let Kabuto alone and that did what she could to stop him.

However, she also knew that Kabuto wasn't the first thing that needed to be dealt with. Kabuto was the real problem, but there was the issue of Danzo first. If Sakura wanted to do _something_ against Kabuto, then Danzo would have to be out of the way first. With a new resolved filling her chest and clearing her head, Sakura made a decision that she should've made when Danzo _first_ became Hokage.

She would find enough information to put a case against him and force him to resign as Hokage. Or maybe even have a trial done. No matter if the process took a month or a year, Sakura would find the strength to keep going. And, whenever her resolve would seem to thin, she would remember her grandmother. Not just her; she would remember every slave, every poverty struck person, every person who had lived a harder life than she had. She would find strength in knowing that there were countless people who had found the will to do what was right. And she would be – she _was_ – just as capable.

 **-x-**

There was a particular part in Konoha's library that kept all of Konoha's political history. Where the history of the clans, the council and every Hokage was stored. It was the first place that Sakura knew she had to look into, in order to have a clear overview of the subject and also to know _exactly_ what to look for afterwards.

It was usually under lockdown and guarded, because there were obviously some documents there that, if in the wrong hands, could cause a lot of trouble. It was required for everyone to have written permission from the Hokage to enter such a place – Sakura knew this from her time as a Hokage's apprentice in her past life – which she clearly could get this time. However, one night per week the place would be cleaned. The person – or people – to enter the room was always decided beforehand and the guard had to know who it was, so Sakura would have to take their place.

The day of the cleaning, Sakura took off towards the library just before it was closed to the general public. She masked her presence to the best of her ability – she was so thankful that she'd learned to excel in that ability during the fourth war – knowing that only a handful of high-level shinobi might be able to sense her if close by. Hidden in between the branches of trees, she waited patiently for the person in charge of cleaning to arrive.

Ten minutes later, a young shinobi of around twenty – a low level chuunin – came into view and headed towards the entrance of that particular part of the library. Sakura quickly casted a genjustu on him and then threw a tiny needle to his neck, which contained a special poison that made one dazed and less able to notice a genjustu. Sakura was almost certain that he wouldn't notice it with the help of that poison, given that her genjutsu abilities were pretty good and that he was not an outstanding shinobi.

As expected, the man soon was caught by the genjutsu and turned back towards his house. Sakura watched as he started cleaning his house, obviously thinking that he was cleaning the place he was supposed to. After watching him thoroughly, Sakura made a henge and deepened her control on the shifting chakra around her – as to avoid having the guard notice that she was disguising herself.

She ran to the library and entered quickly. The female guard – also a chunin – raised an eyebrow at her and motioned to the inside.

"You're ten minutes late."

"Ah… I'm sorry, I got caught up in something." Sakura's voice came out deeper.

"Just get going." The chunin rolled her eyes and moved to clear the way into the building.

Sakura – henged as a brown haired man – walked into the library with a relaxed pace, when in reality she was slightly anxious. She needed to do this fast and without raising any suspicion. So, as soon as the door closed behind her, Sakura rushed into the library and started looking for the label that she needed; 'council'. She soon found it; it consisted of at least five book shelves filled with _thick_ literature. Sakura was quite the book worm… but this was still too much.

Nonetheless, she started walking towards the end of the room as her eyes hurriedly scanned the different names displayed. As she stood, she read a couple pages from a handful of books, which were enough to give her some ideas on how the council had worked over time. How the balance of power between the different figures had changed and how they had previously lost some of their power while the Third and the Fourth were in office.

After a good half an hour of quickly scanning books, her eyes landed on a particular one; _Konoha Clan's and the Council; an ageless struggle._ She grinned thinking that it was _exactly_ what she was looking for, picked up the book and opened it. Sakura knew that it would take a while to read through the book, so she started walking to the end of the room – where the seats were placed – as her eyes scanned over the index. But when she reached the end of the shelf and entered the open walkway, Sakura froze.

She'd been so caught up in finding the right book that she had failed to keep her guard up. Right in front of her, there was a second person; another chunin that she was not familiar with. He immediately looked up at her and their eyes locked. Sakura felt her heart constrict in her throat, since she was holding up an _open_ book in a section that required the Hokage's permission to enter. She mentally kicked herself for being so naïve and _careless_ while doing such a delicate thing. She felt her hands tremble as she held on to the book tightly and was about to make a move, but then she noticed something else.

The other chunin was actually sitting down on a couch… and was reading a book too. Sakura's appalled expression dissipated a bit and she frowned at that. Not just that… but the chunin had particularly large round eyes, which reminded her of someone she knew. The unknown chunin suddenly stood up and dropped the book on the couch, his face showing that he'd been caught red-handed. Sakura immediately knew that he had been doing the same as she had – trying to find intel on Konoha's political history without any permission at all.

Sakura quietly raised her own book and shook it, trying to let him know that she was also doing something prohibited. He noticed and his body posture relaxed at the sight. Nonetheless, he frowned at her in distrust. Sakura would've felt like that too… if she hadn't _known_ who this person was in reality.

"You can drop the disguise, Lee." Her male-voice spoke quietly and Lee froze.

"How do you know my name?" he asked in a hushed voice, but there was a steel edge to it, and his eyes narrowed at her.

Sakura smiled, checked her surroundings once more, and then poofed back into herself. "Hi."

"Sakura!" Lee whisper-shouted when he saw her and smiled widely. "Thank god you're not someone else…"

"I was thinking the same thing." She nodded, and motioned to the couch so that they could both sit down. "What are you doing here?"

"I assume that the same as you." Lee admitted. "I'm not at all comfortable with _this._ "

"You mean Danzo. I can't stand the way he rules Konoha."

"Yeah… I've been trying to find something that proves his bad ways. Reading the title of that book, I assume that you're doing the exact same thing." Lee stated and Sakura nodded. "We should work together!"

"… I don't know." Sakura frowned, not knowing if pulling Lee into the whole deal would be such a good idea.

"Come on… two are always better than one. We'll have more ideas… and honestly you're smarter than me and I could use a hand." When Sakura's frown didn't fade he added. "It will also be faster that way!"

At that Sakura's eyebrows shot up. There was actually a good chance that if they worked together the time she would take to find all the proof she needed would be shortened. That also meant that Kabuto would be taken out sooner. …And she could stop being a part of his hidden agenda sooner. Apart from that, Lee was already aware of the fact that she was working against Danzo and he probably wouldn't stand down if she asked him to – especially given how determined he was. If he went down, he would be looked into and they would probably find out about her too. It was actually safer if she worked _with_ him, instead of leaving him to work alone. But it would also be a greater risk for her from now on. After all, Lee wasn't aware of all the things that she knew from her past life. After considering it for a while, Sakura sighed.

"Ok, but on one condition." She raised a finger as her eyes hardened. "If I tell you to do something, you have to listen. No questions."

"… That doesn't seem very fair." Lee frowned and locked eyes with Sakura, who didn't budge. He must've realized that she wasn't going to agree otherwise and sighed. "I trust you _and_ your judgment, Sakura. So I agree."

Sakura was relieved to hear that and smiled. "Thank you, Lee."

"I think that our time in the library will be short. We should use it wisely."

"Aa." Sakura nodded. "Let's read for now… and talk some other day."

Both chunin sat down at once and started reading their respective books once again. When the night shift was over, the both of them had read through their books and went home without exchanging any words other than 'Good-bye'. They would surely meet afterwards once again and have a proper talk.

 **-x-**

 _Naruto,_

 _It's been a long time since I've written you back. I was caught up in a lot of things after coming back to Konoha! I've had a lot to do and many people to catch up with, apart from my work at the hospital and as a kunoichi._

 _It's good to know that you're doing all right in your journey. I can't wait to see how much you've improved and to hear what you've seen while travelling to so many different nations!_

 _I miss you too! A lot! I always think of you when I'm at Ichiraku's. I also miss training with you. My routine is mostly with Sasuke, but I always think that there's a little piece missing, you know? Also, Sasuke misses you too. He doesn't say it aloud, but I know he does._

 _I understand if you're eager to come back… but if Jiraiya thinks that you should train for a while longer, then maybe he's right. After all, he's your sensei and he can clearly see your development. Apart from that, Konoha has been as expected ever since you left. I don't know if it will help your development if you come back now._

 _Nonetheless, I still want to see you. Don't think otherwise!_

 _I hope that you enjoy your travels. Lots of love and hugs!_

 _Sakura._

Sakura sighed and put the pen down. When she received Naruto's last letter a couple weeks ago, she'd been terrified of him coming back to Konoha. Also, she hadn't felt stable enough to write to him.

Naruto _seemed_ like an idiot – which he was sometimes – but he honestly was much smarter than everyone gave him credit for. She was worried that if she wrote to him while stressed he would notice the faintest differences and would then be more adamant in coming back home. And if he did… she wouldn't dare think how he would react to Danzo's regime. Naruto was passionately thirsty for justice and he was _also_ quite impulsive when it came to such matters.

Now that she'd found an ally to work against Danzo and Kabuto, she was feeling well enough to write back to him and try to convince him to train for longer. She also couldn't sound too desperate, because he would realize that something was off.

She'd also tried to send Jiraiya a hidden message when she mentioned that Konoha was as expected, hoping that he would read the letter and know that Danzo was up to no good as usual. Sakura could not imagine what he would do with the 'Kyuubi container' once he was back home.

After finishing her letter, Sakura went downstairs and saw that her father was already home and cooking something for lunch as he hummed a song. She smiled and went into the kitchen.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hello, sweetie." Kizashi beamed. "How was work today?"

"Ah… it was a morning shift this time. But it went as usual I guess." Sakura shrugged and tried to change the subject. "How can I help?"

"I need you to chop these vegetables." Kizashi motioned to the right, where a cutting board was placed next to a knife.

"All right." Sakura immediately got to work and did as she had been asked.

"So, he's coming today?"

"Sasuke?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "He said he was."

"Was it hard to convince him?" he asked, his eyes never leaving what he was doing.

"Hm? I only invited him once."

"Really? It was always difficult for me and your mother to invite him over while you were away. He's quite reticent when it comes to socializing." Kizashi hummed in fake thinking. "I wonder if there's something special about you."

"I guess it was just awkward for him to eat with some _old_ people he doesn't know too well." Sakura smirked, teasing him back.

"Ouch." He giggled. "Or maybe it was something else _entirely._ "

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't? Maybe I should ask him myself then."

" _Dad_!" Sakura finished putting the cut vegetables in the pot and looked at him with a slight frown.

"What? Wouldn't you like to hear what he says?"

"No, I wouldn't." Sakura clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"I think you would."

"Dad, don't-"

 _RRRING!_

"Oh! That's the doorbell! I'll go get the door!" and before Sakura could say anything else, he'd left the kitched.

 _Ugh._

Sakura was in for another evening of teasing, she just knew it. She didn't usually care at this point of her life, but if the subject of the teasing would be about Sasuke and herself, then she _did_ mind. She didn't know if she would be capable of keeping a straight face if that were to happen.

"Sasuke! It's good to have you here!" Kizashi's voice was loud from the other room. Sakura faintly heard Sasuke 'hn' in return and quickly walked to them as she heard her father talk some more. "We've been missing you a lot lately! You should come more often; you know it's always good to have you over!"

"Hey." She smiled when she saw Sasuke standing in the doorway with a poker face. He was wearing his ninja attire – as usual – and she had to stifle a laugh at that. "Are you on a mission or something?"

"It seems like it." He grumbled.

Sakura laughed at his ironic humor and then motioned towards the dining table. "We're almost done with lunch. Come in."

As they were setting the table, Mebuki came home from work too and helped serve the food. They finally all sat down and started eating lunch. Sakura remained quiet for a while as she watched Sasuke interact with her family. He actually seemed… to fit in quite well. She'd honestly imagined that he wouldn't be that comfortable, since her last memory about it was before leaving for Suna over two years ago.

Then again, Sasuke had been invited over a dozen times during that time – due to her family's insistence, yes – but it seemed that he felt good. He smiled from time to time when her father joked about such things and even made a couple ironic remarks that would send Kizashi into a laughing fit. Mebuki wasn't too keen on talking with people outside her family and circle of friends, but she somehow looked as if she enjoyed Sasuke's company. She wasn't much of a talker as usual, but she was intently listening to the ongoing conversation – which was mostly from her husband's side.

"So, Sasuke." Kizashi asked when they were almost finished with lunch. "You seem to be Sakura's training partner."

"I am." Sasuke nodded.

"I'd thought that you would've found someone else to do so while she was away." He put a finger to his chin in thought and Sakura just _knew_ where this was going.

"I did." Sasuke said simply.

"Oh?"

"Sakura is just stronger than them. They don't push me to be better."

"So… Sakura brings the best out of you, huh?" Kizashi smirked in a teasing manner. Sasuke's face remained impassive, though he obviously knew what the teasing was all about. Sakura thought he wouldn't say anything else and ignore his comment, but to her surprise he answered.

"Aa."

Sakura almost chocked on her food and had to take big gulps of water to refrain to entering a coughing fit. Sadly, that attracted everyone's attention and she didn't quite manage to suppress her blush. Sasuke chuckled at her reaction, her mother beamed widely and her father…

"AAAAh! Ahahahaha!" he openly laughed and eyed her playfully. "Sakura, if I didn't know you any better I would think that you didn't expect that!"

"Dad!" Sakura finally managed to speak in a clear voice and scowled at her father, half playfully and half truthfully. She didn't want to show that she was feeling actually flustered about it, but she wanted him to _stop._

"Oh, don't worry. It's all just for fun." Kizashi waved his hand dismissively, but then raised an eyebrow and looked at her again. "Besides, Sasuke would take good care of you."

" _Ugh."_ Sakura decided to simply stop talking, because she honestly didn't know how she would deal with any of that. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke smirk and wanted to wipe it off his face. So, she talked again. "Maybe he would, but I'm perfectly capable of taking good care of myself. Thank you very much."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her response, but his eyes never left his food and his smirk never quite disappeared either. Sakura noticed in dismay as her father's features light up mischievously and she inwardly groaned.

"Oh… I wasn't referring to _that_ kind of caring. If you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You know, you mother and I are seldom home and – _Uh!_ "

Kizashi rubbed his side, which was aching a bit because Mebuki had elbowed him not too gently. He frowned and looked at her, to find her staring at him with a lifted eyebrow. "I think that's enough. You're making everyone uncomfortable."

Sakura sighed; she was really thankful for her mother's intervention. She also noticed that Sasuke's shoulders dropped a bit, meaning that he'd been a bit tense at her father's last remark. Sasuke wasn't usually put off by many things, but even _he_ would be in that kind of situation. Kizashi giggled and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Sasuke." He smiled honestly. "You know that my sense of humor sometimes gets the best of me."

"Hn."

Sakura was thinking about _why_ he wasn't sorry for her too, but then noticed him throw her an apologetic glance. She closed her eyes and nodded once, but her face remained stern as if to let him know that he shouldn't do it again. Thankfully though, everyone was done with their food so they wouldn't have to face any uncomfortable silences.

"You all did the cooking, so I'll wash the dishes." Mebuki said standing up. "Just leave them on the counter."

Everyone stoop up from the table and did as she asked. Sakura and Sasuke would now be heading out to train and she was about to go, when she decided something else. She looked at the Uchiha, who was starting to walk towards the entrance, and motioned to the door.

"Just go on ahead, I'll catch up in a minute."

Sasuke wordlessly nodded and opened the street door. She turned around to the living room, where her father was currently standing – doing who knows what. He noticed her presence and looked up at her.

"Aren't you going now, sweetie?"

"In a moment." Sakura sighed. "Dad, you can't just… _tease_ about something like that in his presence, you know? We're no longer thirteen."

"I know. I took it a bit too far…" he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. But then his eyes looked into her own. "But it was for a reason."

"What reason? You enjoy it too much?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

Kizashi shook his head. "It's because I know that the two of you care about each other as more than friends. I was just trying to push things into that direction…"

"What? That's ridiculous, dad!" Sakura widened her eyes. "Sasuke doesn't see me that way."

"But you do." He smiled knowingly and Sakura immediately noticed her mistake. "And I'm positive that Sasuke feels the same way. After all these meals we've shared, I've come to know him better than he thinks. You know, being a constant tease has its advantages; one of them being that I get to see a lot of people's reactions."

"Well, you're wrong this time, dad." Sakura frowned. Her father was quite good at getting people, but she honestly didn't think he had gotten it right this time.

"Am I?" he smirked. "Just go already. You don't want to keep Sasuke waiting."

"Ok, ok… see you!" Sakura turned around and left and, as she passed by the kitchen's door, she yelled at her mother. "Bye mom!"

"Bye!"

Sakura heard her mother's voice just as she was closing the door behind her. Sasuke was standing on the street, leaning on a wall casually. His eyes looked at her for a moment and then they took off towards the training grounds. They walked silently for a while and Sakura felt like there was something she needed to say in regards of what had happened back at her place. However, she didn't want Sasuke to think that she was making a big deal out of her father's teasing.

At the same time, Sakura started wondering. Was her father really wrong about his assumptions regarding Sasuke? She was honestly a bit too scared to think about it. She had been so hurt by Sasuke in her past life. She had shed many tears when facing his rejection. She had felt so _unworthy –_ like trash – by the way he had disregarded her feelings. Sakura was mentally years older now – almost twenty-three – but she still couldn't help the insecurity that she felt at the prospect of hoping. At the prospect of believing once again that something real and beautiful could happen between them.

But even so, even though she was afraid… Sakura wondered.

Was Sasuke interested in her as more than a friend? Did she mean more than that to him? Was it all right for her to believe? If she thought about it logically… it wasn't too over the top to think that way. The way Sasuke cared for her well-being. The way he had opened up to her more than once and talked about what he was feeling. The way he seemed to like spending time with her more than with other people.

Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe it was just that she was one of his closest friends. But then again and even if that was so… couldn't a close friendship become something more? In the middle of all the issues that were pressing down on her _,_ it was actually… refreshing to feel hope again.

As she walked next to him she couldn't help a small smile to appear on her lips.

 **A/N: Hello. So, I've been taking longer these past updates, I know. It's due to the fact that we had local elections yesterday and I was running! LOL. Not at all. I just became interested in politics again (political theory more specifically) and have been reading a lot of different authors. So… I haven't had much time to invest in this story.**

 **Anyways, I finished this chapter. I think it's much less dramatic than the last couple ones… but there's an introduction to what Sakura will be dealing with in the future and her reasons for it.**

 **Also, I think the scene where Sasuke had lunch at Sakura's showed how he's feeling more relaxed around her family. And also, Sakura is now suspecting that Sasuke feels something for her… or at least has opened up to the idea.**

 **As always, I want to thank my beta-reader and everyone else who reads and reviews! And, as always, I'd love to know what you think.**

 **Cheers**


	36. Clans and Fangirls

**CHAPTER 36**

It turned out that Lee wasn't working on his own. When they saw each other on the street one day, he briefly mentioned that TenTen was also 'with them'. Sakura was slightly surprised, since TenTen didn't express as much of a passion for justice as Lee – or Naruto – did. However, she couldn't really push her out at this point and she also trusted that TenTen wouldn't betray Lee. She had known her well enough in her past life to know that she was loyal to her teammates and friends.

Having Lee and TenTen work with her when it came to finding intel against Danzo was partly a relief, mostly because Sakura felt like she could count on someone else. The psychological burden of it was less. However, it brought a different kind of anxiety in regards of Lee. Lee was a just and loyal person, he would never betray her and would probably never do anything unfair. But he was also quite impulsive and not the brightest person Sakura knew. She was a bit scared that he would be found out and investigated by the Yamanakas, and then her and TenTen's involvement in the matter would be discovered. Also, TenTen and Sakura herself were be at risk of being found out and interrogated.

So, Sakura had decided to develop a jutsu that allowed her to repress and seal specific memories. Sakura had learnt quite a bit about fuinjutsu throughout her career as a shinobi, but was not an expert. However, studying a specific area of fuinjutsu was not so hard. Especially since those archives were open to the public in Konoha and there were plenty of them, given how the Uzumaki clan had always aided their village when it came to seals. So, Sakura spent dozens of hours learning about them until she figured out how a memory sealing jutsu could be created.

Sakura was aware that in Konoha there were some shinobi that were better than she was when it came to seals. So, making a jutsu based on seals only would not be safe. However, ever since Tsunade's death, Sakura was probably the best when it came to understanding the chakra flow and the biological functions of the brain. So, she decided to make a jutsu that involved both specialties. She slept an average of three to four hours for almost three weeks, but she finally managed to develop a jutsu that was good enough. It mostly relied on the chakra and hormones within the brain, so she only struggled with the fuinjutsu part.

However, Sakura knew that since the Yamanaka's jutsu was truly outstanding, she needed to make sure that the memories would be properly sealed. And the only way to make that work was to concentrate its effect on particular memories, which would also make the seal less likely to be noticed. Also, she would have to make the person forget about those memories and not just block them from an outside intruder. Therefore, she decided that the memories to be blocked would be about who else was involved in the matter. If someone were to be arrested they would probably be done for anyways. Also, if the others were safe they would still have a chance to do something – against Danzo and whoever was working for him.

When Sakura finished the seal, she set up a 'training session' with Lee and TenTen on the same training ground where she used to meet with Kakashi; the one with almost no vegetation or places for root ANBU to hide. They met at mid-day and trained for a good hour or two to create a solid alibi, and then sat down on the floor forming a circle. Sakura checked her surroundings for any presence before they started.

"So, how are we going to do this?" TenTen asked. "We need to make sure that we're not found out… or else…"

"I thought about that too." Sakura answered. "It took some time, but I managed to develop a sealing technique that allows for certain memories to be blocked."

"Really?" Lee's eyebrows shot up in glee and TenTen beamed. "That would be good in case we're compromised. They wouldn't have any proof that we were involved in something bad."

"It's not that easy." Sakura shook her head and briefly explained how the jutsu worked and its limitations. Lee and TenTen's bright expressions became less ecstatic, but they still seemed to be more at ease with having the jutsu.

"I guess it's better for only one of us to be found." TenTen admitted. "Besides, if that were to happen we would still have a chance to bring Danzo down and save whoever gets captured… Not that I even want to think about that scenario."

"Yes! It will definitely help us feel more at ease. However, I don't think that bad things happen to good people. The power of youth will guide us!" Lee beamed.

"Lee! The world is not a bright place." TenTen frowned. "Bad things happen _mostly_ to good people."

"I agree." Sakura nodded. "We need to keep our guard up."

"So, how does this jutsu work, Sakura-chan?"

"I will make a small seal on your left wrist, right under your forearm protector. It'll be hidden from view and, even if your hands are tied, you'll be able to unseal it." Sakura pointed as the mentioned spot on herself. "It will be linked to your blood, so you'll have to draw blood from a finger before unleashing it. The seal will also be linked to your chakra system so as time passes its effect will fade, since the amount of chakra in your body will change. I could've made a stronger and longer lasting seal, but it would've been bigger and easier to notice. However, it will last for at least six months, so it'll be enough."

"No problem." TenTen nodded in agreement.

"Yosh! Let's do it now." Lee beamed.

Sakura nodded and took out a small bottle of ink. She drew the seal on everyone's wrists, including her own. It was a fairly complex seal, but she managed to make it small enough; it was slightly bigger than a grape. After a good twenty minutes, she was finished with all three seals and they got down to business.

"So, how did you guys get into this whole thing?" Sakura asked.

"Well, as you know TenTen and I are orphans from civilian families." Lee explained. "We both live in a part of the village that has never been well off. However, ever since Danzo became Hokage, things started becoming more complicated."

"How so?" Sakura asked.

"Tch. That bastard decided that people who weren't part of the middle class were not model citizens. So he started cutting off many services. For example, since we almost pay no taxes – and _can't_ afford more of them – we now have more limited access to health and retirement funds. We have to pay for what the funds don't cover/pay for and, as you can imagine, it's really hard to do it."

"What?" Sakura's eyes widened. "But, how come no one's said anything?"

"Well, some people are against it." Lee admitted. "But they are afraid of making trouble when the Akatsuki is such a theat. They believe that a stable situation in the village is more important."

"Not just that. But he has also given some of us access to better jobs. However, there's a bunch of requirements. For example, it's needed that people get an education – which I _understand_ is necessary – but while people are getting specialized, they don't get an income. You understand that when you have barely enough to eat and pay for basic bills, there's no such thing as savings. Therefore, almost no one has gotten the chance to actually study."

"That's horrible…" Sakura frowned. "You guys are still living there when you have a better income since being chunin?"

"TenTen and I were allowed to have a loan that is given to shinobi. It allowed us to make it through while being genin, but now we have to pay a big part of our earnings."

"And it's not just about us. We're shinobi, so we were allowed to work from a young age. Plus, we're only one person per house… so it hasn't been that bad. But civilian families struggle every day." TenTen sighed. "I know that one day we'll both get outta there. But the rest of them will not. For example, my neighbors – people who have helped me for years – will probably never get the chance."

"Yeah. We were both really upset about the situation… Danzo simply disregarded our needs."

"So, Lee came to me one day and said we had to do something about it." TenTen smirked. "And, since we are some of the only shinobi living in that area, we decided to do it."

"What about you, Sakura-chan?"

"My family has always done well enough. We're not rich at all, but we're definitely middle class." Sakura said. "My reasons are mostly because I don't like his leadership. He stands out as an authoritarian and a despot to me. I don't like the way he treats us shinobi. Also, have you taken a good look at root ANBU? They're like machines."

"Yes! We noticed too. There's something off about them…" Lee frowned.

"So, I decided to do something on my own." Sakura finished.

"But what about Sasuke?" TenTen asked. "He's your teammate and Danzo's apprentice. Does he know about this?"

"No… he doesn't." Sakura sighed. "I don't want to put him in a difficult situation. He can't just decide to stop being trained by Danzo. It would raise suspicion and also, Danzo practically _forced_ Sasuke to train with him so…"

"Ah. I understand." Lee nodded.

"What about Neji?" Sakura asked and saw Lee frown.

"He's not in on this either." He said in a lower voice than usual. "The Hyuugas are very strict and they would never allow someone from their clan to act on their own like that. Much less someone from the branch house."

"Not just that. We would also be putting Neji in a difficult situation." TenTen sighed. "Because the Clans are all mixed up in this issue."

"I had suspected that." Sakura bit her lip and wondered why they'd never been taught about any of that in the academy. From the frown in the other guys' faces they were probably wondering the same. "From what I've learned, the clans from our village have historically had a struggling relationship with the council."

"Yes, we also found intel about that. The clans have always struggled for more power within villages. Of course, no village wants to lose their clans – it would make them so much weaker – so there's always a conflict of interests between the council and them. It seems that, ever since Danzo became Hokage, the clans have gained a bigger influence for some reason."

"Why do you say that?" Sakura asked. "You have any proof?"

"Well… it's not exactly _proof_ , but to us it's enough to know that something is up." Lee said.

"Neji has told us that Hirashi-sama has been having lots of meetings with Danzo and the rest of the leaders." Tenten explained. "Also, we've seen that a lot of infrastructure has been built around their districts. So, I don't think their meetings have anything to with _problems_ amongst them. If anything, they're meeting to decide who's getting the bigger part out of Konoha's budget."

"Yeah. We don't know why they have a rise in influence now though." Lee crossed his arms in thought.

"At first we thought that Danzo was buying them off so that they wouldn't speak up against how he's handling Konoha." Tenten mentioned. "But I don't think that reason it good enough. Danzo hasn't openly done anything against our village; he just has a different political perspective than the Third did. He also hasn't done anything rash, so most people in the village agree with him. I don't think the clans would openly oppose him, so we don't know where this influence comes from. Danzo doesn't seem like a soft leader at all."

"Hm. I have a guess." Sakura tapped her chin as her mind work up the theory on the spot. "The head of the clans have always been notified – sometimes asked for advice – when it came to important issues that involve the village. So, I assume that they may know something about Danzo and the council. Now that Danzo is Hokage, there is no third party anymore since Danzo was part of the council just before stepping into office. Maybe when Hiruzen Sarutobi was still Hokage, he was capable of keeping a balance between the three groups. But now, Danzo could be assumed as part of the council – which the clans seem to know a lot about – so the struggle has become less balanced. The clans have gained the upper hand in this."

"But that doesn't make any sense." Lee asked. "The clans have always been a part of our village and they certainly would speak up if there was something corrupt going on."

"Ah… I think the answer to that is simple and we've already read about it in the history books we've come across." Sakura tightened her hands into fists, not wanting to believe the conclusion she'd come to.

"The clans will always put their own interests before the villages' interests." TenTen spoke slowly.

"In other words, the clans might be even more corrupt than the council. Which would make this whole thing so much harder."

The three of them decided on which subjects each of them would be investigating and then parted ways. Sakura left with a heavy feeling in her gut as she walked back to the village on her own – as to not be seen with TenTen or Lee by another person.

Sakura had always thought that only Konoha's council was corrupt. And that much was true. However, she'd never imagined that things went much deeper than that. Sakura wondered for a moment how deeply corrupt her village was. The village that she'd always been proud of and the one she'd relentlessly defended throughout her life.

However, when the notion of a corrupt village was clear in her head, things started making sense to her. Things that she'd never questioned. Things that had always seemed obvious and not ill-intended before. Now that she wasn't blinded by her trust in the leaders of her village, she began to understand and make connections.

The Uchiha Clan's coup, which was planned because their privileges as a clan had been taken away and they wanted them back no matter what. The massacre – which was now obviously the only way to truly end the problem – and how even Sarutobi had agreed to it in the end. How no other clan had spoken up about the subject, even when they must've at the very least known about the tension rising. How the Clans had always seemed to have a preferential treatment in the village. The way they had always managed to influence the public policies of the village.

Sakura had always thought that Konoha was different from other places. Different from other shinobi villages. She'd always imagined Konoha to be a model village, who cared about its people and cared about people in other nations as well. Sakura had fought with claws and teeth to protect her village and had flawlessly completed her missions. She'd always trusted that the orders and decisions that came from above were in the best interest of everyone and well-intended.

Sakura was afraid to think that she'd been wrong all along. That her loyalties might have been ill placed and that she'd been contradicting her code of ethics all this time. The memory of Kabuto's mocking words sent a chill down her spine.

" _You think you know everything about Konoha?"_

It appeared that she didn't. But she would find out. No matter what, Sakura would clear the questions about Konoha. And she would make sure to take Kabuto and Danzo out. However, she didn't even want to think about what course of action she would take afterwards. What could she even _do_ if she found out that things were the way she feared? That the roots of corruption went much deeper than she'd initially thought?

 **-x-**

After so much time of not believing that Sasuke could return her feelings, Sakura had opened a tiny window of hope. However, she soon decided to not act upon it on impulse. If what her father had said was true and Sasuke had some interest in her, then it wouldn't disappear overnight. Also, if Kizashi was only imagining things and Sasuke only saw her as a good friend, then she didn't want to ruin it by taking that first step. Sakura knew that it was a bit cowardly of herself, but Sasuke's presence in her life was important. With all that she was facing, she couldn't imagine how she'd feel if he were to step away from her. So, she took a safe course and decided to wait.

Ever since lunch at her place a couple weeks back, Sakura had met with Sasuke a dozen times. They would eat and train as usual. Small talk would take place and they would relax in each other's presence. Sakura had decided to act as she always had, but she was now more aware of how he acted around her. She felt the need to make sure that her hopes were based on a real thing.

Sasuke had become a person that had good control over himself – except when it came to certain matters like his family's death or Itachi's betrayal. He wouldn't usually let his feelings or thoughts show unless he wanted others to know. So, Sakura had to be extra observant in order to notice if there was something different about him. However, she also couldn't be too obvious, because Sasuke was an extremely observant person too. Fortunately, it appeared that her choice of balance between observing and acting nonchalant had been on point.

Despite being laid back and casual as always, Sakura had noticed a few things. Sasuke sometimes looked at her longer than she would've expected him to… but only for a second or two. Whenever Sasuke helped her up during training, his hand would linger on her skin for a fraction of a second longer. Sadly, this was not enough to _prove_ anything, but at least it kept her suspicions intact.

On the other hand, Sakura decided to compare the way he behaved around her and around other people. Sasuke was definitely nicer to her than he was to anybody else. First of all, he seemed to respect her a great deal. It was a realization that made her almost cry, because she'd been so used to being looked down upon by him in her past life. When Sakura looked back at the day Sasuke confronted her about what she was hiding from him, she realized that Sasuke would've _demanded_ to know what was going on if it had been anyone else. Secondly, he was more thoughtful with her than with others and he walked her home when he had the chance. But then again, all of that could also mean that she was his only female friend. Men were known for treating their male friends more rudely, and she had seen plenty of that in Naruto's and Sasuke's friendship. So, maybe those differences were in regards to her gender – alongside their friendship – and not something else.

After taking all of this into account, Sakura decided that she didn't really care at that point. Knowing that Sasuke cared for her that much – even if it was in a platonic way – was more than enough. Knowing that he treated her with so much respect and thoughtfulness was more than she had ever dreamed when she travelled back in time. If Sasuke never looked at her in a different way, she would be disappointed and would have a hard time getting over him, but she would never regret the friendship they'd built.

Nonetheless, Sakura wasn't going to back down and hide in a corner or anything. So, after a while, she'd decided to invite him over for dinner. When he agreed, she'd told him that she was going to cook something for the both of them and that he better not be late – trying to loosen up the tension that might arise. At the time, Sasuke had simply raised an eyebrow but ended up agreeing anyways.

So, when the day came, Sakura had everything thought out. She had decided to cook something different, a dish she had never prepared before. It was tempura-tomato covered chicken breasts. She'd made some dishes covered with tomatoes before. She'd also made tempura before. But she'd never tried to do something in between. When she saw the recipe, she immediately knew that Sasuke was going to love it and decided to go for it. It seemed pretty hard and above Sakura's usual cooing skills, but if she followed the recipe step-by-step she would definitely get it. Right?

Somehow, mixing tomatoes with tempura was so much harder than she'd thought. Actually, if Sakura had thought about it even a bit she would've realized that getting the texture right was incredibly hard. Tempura only worked when it stuck to the food and in order for that to happen it had to be quite stiff. However, tomatoes were pretty liquid-like and, on top of that, a bit acidic. So, the mixture was _never_ right even after the fifth attempt.

" _Damn_ it!" Sakura hissed and slammed her palms on the counter. Her temper was getting the better of her once again. "I should've gone with something traditional!"

Sakura tried once more, and this time she slowly _– slowly –_ added the tomatoes to the tempura sauce until it seemed right. She carefully – _carefully –_ dipped the chicken breasts on it once again and… another failure. It didn't look quite as bad as the previous ones, but it was far from what it needed to be. The moment she put it in the pan to fry it, it would all fall apart. Sakura mindlessly looked at the clock.

"What!?" she gasped when she realized that Sasuke was going to be there in just ten minutes. "Agh… ok let's just improvise."

Sakura added flour to the mixture in order for it to be less liquid and then some more eggs. When she realized that the texture seemed to hold up, she dipped the meat in it and the fried it. However, she didn't count on one tiny little problem. Now that the covering was ticker and more solid than it should've, it was taking longer to cook. And the outside was going to burn anytime. However, if she took it out now, there was a chance that the meat on the inside wouldn't finish cooking.

" _Why_ did I even choose a dish like this one?!" Sakura groaned and passed a hand through her hair in dismay. " _Fuck_ me for being too ambitious."

 _RRRIIIING_

Sakura froze in her spot when she realized that Sasuke was already there. In theory, dinner was ready. The rice was cooked and so was the chicken. However, Sakura honestly doubted that it would be edible. It was slightly burnt on the outside and she feared that it would be raw in the middle. She shook her head, took her apron off and then rushed to the door.

"Hey!" she greeted when she saw Sasuke standing at the door with his regular laidback posture. "You're on time."

"Obviously." Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was never late.

"Oh. Come in."

Sakura allowed him to enter and noticed that, for once, he wasn't wearing his ninja attire. Ok, he was still wearing ninja sandals and pants, but he was wearing a plain dark blue sweater. She watched as Sasuke took off his shoes and neatly set them next to the wall. He followed her into the living room and, when he looked at her, Sakura shifted nervously.

"What?" he asked simply.

"I-um…" Sakura frowned. "I think I may not have anything cooked."

"You think?" Sasuke lifted an eyebrow and Sakura nodded. Sasuke walked closer to Sakura and moved a hand to the side of her head. Sakura felt a tingling sensation where his hand brushed her shoulder and scalp, but forced herself to remain in control. She noticed that Sasuke lifted a long strand of pink hair and looked at it pointedly. "If you didn't cook, what is this?"

"Damn." Sakura realized that there was a fairly large portion of tempura mix in her hair. She quickly walked into the kitchen and stole a look at herself in the magnetic mirror that was on the fridge. She realized that her hair was a mess – how many times had she even moved it aside while cooking? – and that there were many spots of mixture on it. Sasuke appeared behind her in the mirror and there was an amused look on his face. Sakura felt a blush appear on her cheeks and pointed at him. "Shut up. Just… help me get this out of my hair."

Sasuke chuckled but complied nonetheless. He turned on the tap and used water to get the mixture out of her pink locks. Sakura was once again surprised at how gentle and patient this Sasuke was when she compared him to the one she'd known in her past life. After a couple minutes, he was finished and Sakura was covered in goose bumps all over. She inwardly shook her head to dismiss the feelings his fingers on her hair had evoked and decided to think of what to say. Well, it appeared that saying she hadn't cooked anything was not going to work. So, she went with the truth.

"I might've tried to do something different… but it didn't turn out too well." Sakura admitted.

"Where?" Sasuke simply asked.

Sakura gestured towards where the food was placed and Sasuke walked towards it. "It was supposed to be rice with a serving of tempura-tomato covered chicken breasts. I also made a special rosemary-cream sauce and a dessert… but it's all gone to waste. _Look_ at that. It's burnt and I could swear that it's raw on the inside, so there's no way we-"

"Let's try it."

"- could eat it – wait what?" Sakura raised her eyebrows at the raven haired man.

"We don't want to throw it away just because it _might_ be bad." Sasuke said and started serving the food on his own, without even asking. Sakura was surprised to find that Sasuke already knew where everything was kept in her kitchen, but it did make sense considering that he'd been over many times and she would expect him to offer some help every time.

Sakura stood there in an almost dumb founded way while Sasuke served the hopefully edible meal on plates and set them on the table. He hadn't even waited for her answer. Sakura didn't know if she was supposed to feel grateful or taunted, but she ended up choosing to feel grateful that he was trusting in the horrible looking food she'd made. She decided to simply follow him and sit down on the other side of the table.

Despite knowing that the food wouldn't taste too good, Sakura was glad that Sasuke was being thoughtful of her. She smiled and she took a bite of her food at the same time as Sasuke did. She bit down on it a couple times and felt her stomach drop. The chicken was raw and the outside was burnt as she'd expected… spoiling the whole flavor. She didn't want either of them to be sick after eating, but she didn't want Sasuke to feel uncomfortable if she-

Sakura stopped thinking when she noticed Sasuke spiting the raw chicken he'd been chewing into a paper napkin. He took a big gulp of tea and then looked up at her with a poker face.

"We can't eat this."

…And so much for being respectful and thoughtful. She should've known that Sasuke would never lie for the sake of something as petty as making an impression. Then again, he could've said something worse like 'This is horrible' or 'It's disgusting'. But at the same time, Sakura was honestly glad that he'd been truthful because she needed to desperately get rid of the food in her mouth. She copied his actions and then gulped down her own tea.

"If you wanted me out of the way, food poisoning was probably not the best choice." Sasuke teased a small smirk on his face.

"Hey!" Sakura frowned. "I warned you it was bad."

"I know." Sasuke chuckled. "For once, you were right."

"For _once_? I _always_ am." Sakura snorted, but she then sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry. I tried really hard."

"Don't be." Sasuke shrugged. "It's not your job or anything."

"I know… but still." Sakura sighed.

"Let's clean up and eat something at Ichiraku's." Sasuke motioned to the dirty dishes on the counter and they proceeded to wash them.

Ten minutes later, they were walking down the street and towards the classic ramen stand. They maintained light conversation as they did and, since Sakura's house was pretty centrically located, they got there in no time. They entered the small place and immediately noticed the presence of two other shinobi. Sasuke groaned next to Sakura and she had to stifle a laugh at his reaction.

"Sakura!" Anko's loud voice greeted as her hand waved dramatically, Kakashi sitting right next to her. "It's been forever since I last saw you!"

Sakura knew that Sasuke didn't want to greet the jounin, but she wasn't going to be rude. Apart from that, she hadn't seen Anko ever since she came back from her long-term mission to Suna.

"Hey. Anko, Kakashi." She nodded in greeting, with Sasuke following her with a slightly annoyed expression. "How are you doing?"

"Yo." Kakashi greeted, his voice laced with boredom as usual, as Sakura sat down next to his female companion.

"Yo, Sasuke. Don't be shy and take a seat, will ya?" Anko called with a smirk. The raven haired man sighed and reluctantly sat down next to Sakura.

"What's up, Anko?" Sakura smiled.

"Oh. Not much. We just decided to eat out this time, you know? Break the routine and all."

"Oh?" Sakura eyed Kakashi mischievously and smirked, wanting to tease him a bit. "Break the routine you say?"

"Well, _yes._ " Anko smirked back. She obviously knew how shy Kakashi was when it came to personal matters. "You know, _routine_. Eating, fucking, eating, fucking. It was getting boring. So we switched up the setting a bit."

Sakura laughed openly at her older friend's joke – somehow she had seemed to only become more shameless in the two years that had past. "I can imagine. What about the other part though?"

"Oh, I don't know. Some bush on the way home might do the trick." Anko laughed loudly and slammed her hand on the counter. By then Kakashi was intently looking away from the two females and Sakura could practically hear his thoughts of god-please-kill-me-now. "So, Sakura. What about you?"

"Oh, well. We had a mishap with dinner so we had to eat out. Again." Sakura smiled sheepishly.

"A mishap?" Anko raised an eyebrow and looked at Sasuke, who had been ignoring her since he sat down. "Yo, Uchiha. What is this mishap about? Don't tell me you fucked dinner up."

"Not exactly." Sasuke smirked and looked at Sakura. "She did."

"What? Sakura?" Anko slapped her forehead. "How could you be so careless?"

"Huh?" Sakura frowned, knowing that Anko wasn't fond of cooking herself and thus not understanding what she meant.

"Well, the bedroom is too far now, of course!" she smirked. "Unless some bushes are good enough for you too."

"Well…" Sakura wanted to say something back but Anko interrupted her.

"I wonder is Sasuke has got any skills in that department though."

"He should." Kakashi spoke, clearly wanting to stop being the subject of the conversation. "I've been thoughtful enough to provide him with informative literature."

"Ah! Sasuke, I assume you've read those, huh?" Anko smirked. "You need to listen to your sensei's advice, you know?"

Sasuke continued to ignore the teasing and simply ate his ramen in a composed manner. Sakura wondered how on earth he could simply ignore those kinds of questions. She decided that things were getting a bit awkward and spoke up. "Ahh… it's not really like that." Sakura smiled and prayed that they would to drop the teasing.

"Whatever you say, sweet cheeks." Anko smirked and Sakura inwardly sighed in relief. She knew that Anko wouldn't say anything else in Sasuke's presence for now … but that didn't mean that she would be safe from teasing when alone with the older woman. "So, how have you been doing, Sakura?"

"As usual. Hospital work and training." Sakura shrugged. "Ever since I got back I've done a couple missions, but they have both been B-rank so it wasn't too thrilling. They were even inside the village so I didn't even get a change of scenery."

"Ah. Same old story of the over-qualified chunin." Anko shrugged. "Don't worry. You'll get to jonin when you hit the minimum required experience and will be able to polish your skills while on missions too."

"You two are definitely missing out on the good stuff." Kakashi pointed out as he finished his own meal. "It's a shame that you're both still chunin. You would be able to get much more interesting missions if you were jonin."

Sakura knew what Kakashi was talking about. Since she was still a chunin, most mission didn't allow her much freedom. Therefore, her chances of getting to Obito were truly slim. Sakura sighed and passed her hand through her hair before noticing that both jonin were done with their dinner.

"Well. We'll leave you now." Anko said. "We got stuff to-"

Kakashi promptly pulled the woman away from them with an exasperated expression. However, before he walked away, he looked back and locked eyes with Sakura. She knew exactly what he was silently asking. _What is going on with Sasuke?_

Sakura sharply turned her head around, knowing that she didn't have an excuse. She had promised that she would keep Sasuke at a distance. Kakashi was right when he said that Sasuke could find out about their intentions if allowed closer. That is if anything went wrong, things could turn out to be even more difficult if he was emotionally involved.

But Sakura honestly couldn't do it. She either pushed him away – which would probably be a bad choice – or she allowed things to happen. Sakura couldn't imagine how she could even keep him at a distance. She didn't know how to do that – she never was someone who could control how her emotions developed – and she also doubted she would be able to hide her intentions from him at this point. He had proven to know her better than she had expected.

" _Kyaaaaaa!_ " a louch screech interrupted Sakura from her reverie and her almost finished dinner. She turned her head to look behind her and saw… fangirls. "Sasuke- _kuuuun_!"

Sakura was aware that those girls were no older than fourteen and that they were just that; _girls._ But still, Sakura winced. Had she really acted that way before? It was honestly… kind of sad. She hadn't seen this many fangirls together in a long time. Most of the time she would see one or two of them looking at Sasuke and almost drooling. But now there were almost ten girls and they didn't seem to plan on just looking this time.

Sakura stole a glance at Sasuke and noticed that he had clenched his jaw and tightened his fists in annoyance. A low growl emitted from his throat as the group of girls approached them – him – at a quick pace. Sasuke was instantly surrounded by them and they started asking him out repeatedly. Sasuke was _clearly_ not happy about their presence, but they didn't seem to notice. Or care. Did they even care?

" _Leave._ " Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"Sasuke-kun, you should give me a chance!"

"No, I'm better than all of them combined!"

"Sasuke-kun, drop that average-looking girl and choose me!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

" _Enough!_ " Sakura yelled above all their voices and stood up rather harshly. "Don't you see that he doesn't even like what you're doing? You won't get anything out of this!"

"So that's how it is, huh?"

"You're part of the competition too, huh?"

"Oh my god, are you two on a date?"

"Sasuke-kun, tell me that's a lie!"

"That can't be true! Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke violently stood up, with his hair shadowing his features. Teuchi looked at him sympathetically as the young Uchiha slammed some money on the counter. Sasuke took a hold of Sakura's wrist and pulled her away from the table. He looked back at the gaping fangirls with a scowl.

" _Don't_ follow me." He barked before stomping away, pulling Sakura along with him.

Sakura looked back at the baffled fangirls with a bit of sympathy – she'd been there before – and then looked at the back of Sasuke's head. She could only imagine what kind of face he was making and wanted to stop him so she could see. But she knew better than to stop so close to the fangirls so she allowed him to pull her further away. So, distracted with her thoughts, Sakura never noticed when his grip slipped down to grab her hand. Neither said a word for a couple of minutes, until Sasuke stopped at a local park and let go of Sakura's hand. He leaned on a railing and didn't turn around for a few moments. Sakura supported herself beside him and then noticed that his posture seemed… defeated. She finally decided to move closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey." She spoke softly. "Are you all right?"

"… yeah." Sasuke turned his head away from her, but she managed to see his expression clearly.

"Really? You don't look just annoyed to me, Sasuke. You seem… pretty afflicted." She explained. "What's wrong?"

"Ah." Sasuke nodded. "I can't _stand_ them."

"Fangirls?" she asked and he nodded again. "Why?"

"They're so… _infuriating_."

"It's not just that, is it?" Sakura asked, expertly reading Sasuke's face. He wasn't an open book by any standards, but she knew him well enough to be able to tell when something affected him.

"Aa." Sasuke stayed quiet for a moment and Sakura waited for him to continue. "… they sometimes remind me of my father."

"Your… father?" Sakura didn't expect that.

"He always saw his children as some sort of accomplishment." Sasuke snorted. "He never really saw… _us_. He only cared about our abilities, our grades, our manners, our behavior. It was so… frustrating. It was as if we were some sort of trophy instead of an actual family."

"Ah… I understand." Sakura connected the dots. "And fangirls only follow you around because of what you appear to be to them."

"Aa."

"And they keep on competing with each other to get your attention." Sakura thought aloud. "They just see you as a trophy… or…"

"A fucking piece of _meat_." Sasuke finished. "And on top of that, they're _so annoying_. It really makes me lose my cool."

"Ah… well." Sakura frowned and tried to suppress the guilt that crept into her mind. No wonder that Sasuke couldn't sand her when they first became a team in her past life. "They're just girls, right? They still have to mature, you know?"

"They're almost your age, Sakura." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Ah… well." Sakura bit her lip. "I don't know. But I'm sure they'll come around."

"Hopefully. They're so… suffocating." Sasuke seemed in thought for a moment and then locked eyes with Sakura. He carefully inspected her and finally seemed to come to a conclusion. "I remember that the only girl in the academy who never was a fangirl was Hinata."

 _Oh god, not that._

"That means you were a fangirl once, Sakura." Sasuke finished with a mocking smirk.

"You must be imagining things."

"I don't think I am."

"I was _eleven_. I had no idea what I was doing!" Sakura defended herself, but a blush still appeared on her cheeks.

"Tell me, what was it that you adored the most?" Sasuke teased her, his previous irritation now completely gone.

"I just followed the other girls around!"

"Was it my looks?" Sasuke smirked. "Or maybe my name? My skills?"

"Oh, _please_." Sakura snorted, not wanting to admit that it was all true. "It was just what everybody did."

"Aa." Sasuke's smirk widened, realizing that she was lying. Sakura should've known that he would see through that.

"It was just a silly crush, I was a kid!" Sakura felt her cheeks hotter and hotter. She must've looked like a goddamn tomato at that point.

"A crush, huh?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her – the difference of stature being more noticeable now that they were standing next to each other.

Sakura realized her mistake and bit her lip. She decided to change the course of the conversation before things became more difficult for her. "I… I used to be a fangirl, just like almost every girl in the class. I stopped afterwards, so I'm pretty sure that the other fangirls will come around too."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why did you stop?" Sasuke asked, now with honest curiosity in his eyes. Sakura felt her heartbeat accelerate in her chest at the question. Was it simply curiosity, or something more?

"I… I realized it was stupid to follow around someone I didn't even know."

"It was." Sasuke agreed and his eyes bored into her own. Sakura didn't know what to think for a moment, but was praying that her blush had disappeared by then.

"Well, even if the fangirls _were_ to get to know you, they would stop following you around." Sakura huffed. "They would get to see how much of an arrogant… person you really are."

"Couldn't think of anything more, could you?" Sasuke smirked, noticing that she had not come up with any other insults.

"Shut up." Sakura smiled and hit him on the arm. The two stayed there, leaning on the railing, for another moment of silence. As if there was some silent agreement between them, they quietly started walking back to the village.

Sakura realized now _why_ Sasuke had disliked her so much when they first became a team. Before becoming a part of Sasuke's team, Sakura had been _just like_ those fangirls. She had followed Sasuke around because he was handsome, skilled, smart, cool, and the heir of a clan. She hadn't known him at all. It was no wonder that Sasuke had constantly felt annoyed by her attempts to ask him out. Not only had Sasuke been twelve or thirteen and probably had had no interest in girls at all, but he had probably perceived her attraction as something vain and shallow. He wouldn't have been far from the truth if that was the case, to be honest.

"I'm sorry." Sakura said softly as she stared at her feed. "For being like that when I was younger. I never really noticed anything apart from myself."

Sasuke shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. At least you weren't like that while being my teammate."

"Yeah." Sakura felt like slapping herself _._ However…"I still would've stopped."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, silently questioning her.

"Remember what I said. If any of those girls gets to know you, they will stop being fans."

Sasuke rolled his eyes quietly and Sakura felt her lips form a smile at that. He obviously didn't know what she meant. But she knew.

It was only now that she was older that Sakura realized how much of a brat she'd been. At first she had claimed to like Sasuke when it had been only a vain thing that she had done to compete with the rest of the girls in her class. Then she had claimed to like Sasuke when she developed a crush on him while being his teammate. She had claimed to love him the night he left, when she had simply liked him. She had claimed to love him when she met him years after, when it had honestly been more of an obsession at the time and the remnants of something of the past. Yes, she had felt something for him all along, but it had never really been love.

However, now that she knew the _real_ Sasuke and had a deeper understanding of who he really was. Now that they had shared so many things and were so close to each other. Now that they relied on one another and had been good friends for years. Now that Sakura truly trusted him to be there for her. Now that Sakura could clearly see that _this_ was truly love, she couldn't bring herself to openly say it. Not to Sasuke, not to anyone else. If was a bit ironic, actually.

All in all, now that Sakura had really gotten to know Sasuke, she had found that the love she'd previously claimed to feel had only been a cheap imitation. And she could honestly imagine that happening to other people as well.

 _If any of those fangirls were to get to know you like I do, they would undoubtedly fall in love with you too._

 **A/N: OK. This took a bit longer but it's already up! I was on vacation with my family this week and got to relax on the beach – as much as that can happen when looking after a toddler LOL.**

 **Anyways, there were two parts in this chapter. The first one was about Lee, TenTen and the issues that involve the clans. Do you have any ideas on where I plan to take this? You might as well do. I have many things planned, but this particular issue is not set on stone, so I'm open to suggestions!**

 **The second part was the Sasusaku moments. I've wanted to portray Sasuke's feelings on fangirls for some time. He's more emotional than he wants people to believe… and I always thought that having girls looking at him like that would've affected him at least a bit. There was also some fluff and funny moments between him and Sakura. Did you like it? I really enjoyed writing the fluff.**

 **All in all, I'd love to hear what you have to say about this chapter!**

 **Thank you all for reading and reviewing! You support really means a lot!**

 **Also, thanks to my beta-reader Monochrome Ace.**


	37. Land of Snow

**CHAPTER 37**

"Team Kakashi." Danzo's deep voice echoed in his huge underground office. "I've summoned you because you've been assigned a mission."

Sakura nodded along with her team as she hoped that whatever mission they were getting would allow them to get out of the village. It had been almost 3 months since they rescued Gaara and she hadn't gotten the chance to leave and get _something_ done regarding the Akatsuki.

"You are to escort a group of people from one particular destination to another." Danzo explained. "The details are inside the mission scroll, which will be handed to Hatake as the team leader. There is one thing that I want to make _clear._ You are _not_ to engage in any kind of exchange of conversation with them. Your _only_ task is to make sure that they get to their destination unharmed, as requested. Nothing more, nothing less. Is that clear?"

"Hai." All the shinobi answered together.

"Hatake." Danzo called and Kakashi stepped forward, his posture firm as expected. The Fifth motioned to the scroll on his desk, which Kakashi politely retrieved and then stepped back. "This is a B-ranked mission. I don't think I need to explain where the difficulties lay. You are to leave immediately and come back _as soon_ as it's complete."

"Hai!"

"Dismissed." The older man waved them away and the three stepped out of the office together.

Sakura allowed her shoulders to relax as soon as they were in the hallway. She honestly didn't know how Sasuke managed to keep his cool around Danzo, because not even Kakashi seemed to be able to completely pull that off. She knew that Danzo was Sasuke's teacher, but she honestly couldn't imagine herself ever acting that nonchalant in front of that man. Then again, Sasuke was not the kind of person to act submissively and he was pretty daring too. In fact, taking into account that this was _Sasuke,_ it was a wonder that he didn't act rudely towards Danzo. He had never shown much respect towards authorities before; not Hiruzen, not Tsunade, not even Orochimaru.

They got to the gates in half an hour and they sat down in a circle inside a small office that was at the guarding post. Kakashi unrolled the scroll and looked at the intel silently as Sasuke and Sakura waited for him. Five minutes later, he had taken a look at everything with his sharingan – in order to remember every detail – and rerolled the scroll.

"This doesn't seem particularly difficult." He explained. "It's a group of twenty people – nine women and eleven men – who need to get them from a small village to a ship. That ship will take them to their destination afterwards. As soon as they're inside the ship, the mission will be complete and we will start traveling back. According to the files, there might be an attempt to escape from them, so I think we can assume that they're either criminals or prisoners. Given the amount of people and the rank of the mission, I think they're merely civilian thugs. An uprising might happen at some point, so it's wise to keep a strong façade and keep your distance from them."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, no words were needed from his part. As soon as Kakashi was done in putting the scroll away, they all took their previously packed travelling bags and left the village. Sakura had nodded quietly at Kakashi's words too, but a part of her was reluctant. She knew that prisoners were difficult to handle, but she couldn't refrain from feeling bad about the approach that they were supposed to take.

Sasuke had been a criminal once too and, even though he hadn't really killed innocent civilians or stolen from anyone, he had been regarded as an international S-class criminal. He had made wrong choices, but she couldn't imagine him as a heartless evil person. He had just been alone, hurt, and mislead. What about the people they were about to escort? Sakura knew that they needed to get to their destination and she needed to do as she was told, but she didn't feel comfortable with treating them like… scum.

Maybe Sasuke was right. She was too soft for their profession.

They ran from tree to tree for over twelve hours, only stopping to eat twice and taking a couple short breaks from their fast pace. They finally decided to stop overnight at a regular clearing in the forest. Sakura noticed with disdain that the night was particularly cold, and inwardly cursed her bad tolerance to it. Then again, that kind of weather was to be expected since they were nearing the Land of Snow. She and Kakashi decided to set up camp and Sasuke announced he would gather some firewood. When Sasuke was well out of hearing range, Kakashi walked closer to Sakura.

"You know this is the first shot we've had in months." His voice was almost a whisper, but Sakura heard him nonetheless.

"I know." She nodded. "I have a feeling that Itachi will try to contact me during this mission."

"I hope so. What are we going to do about Sasuke?"

"We will have to find a way to when the time comes. It all depends on the situation."

Kakashi looked at her for another moment, a frown on his face. He didn't like risking so much around Sasuke, because things could get out of hand and he wasn't sure that they would be able to control the situation properly. But there was nothing to be done, because Sasuke was an inherently suspicious and cautious person and would notice if they tried to shake him off for too long. Kakashi finally sighed and nodded, knowing that they didn't have much of a choice.

Sasuke soon arrived and quickly lit up a fire. They sat around it and put out a portion of food to heat up. Sasuke looked at Kakashi briefly before looking back at the fire and speaking up.

"So, the Land of Snow?"

"Yeah." Kakashi nodded, steam coming out as he spoke due to the coldness of the night. "The village is just at the border, so we won't have to travel in the cold weather for long. We will pick up the prisoners there and take them to the port, which is only a half a day away."

"I hope we don't have any trouble. I don't like hurting civilians." Sakura frowned.

"They're prisoners, Sakura." Sasuke noted.

"I know." She sighed. "It just seems like something shinobi shouldn't do. Our duty should be to protect our village from other shinobi threats. Not… escorting civilian prisoners."

"I understand what you mean." Kakashi nodded. "That should be the duty of the local police, but apparently, they are unable to handle this particular situation for some reason. So they decided to hire Konoha shinobi for the job."

"Sakura, you also have to remember that shinobi don't only protect their homes. They also complete missions in order to make an income for their village, and those missions might not always have to do with protecting their nation."

"I know _._ " Sakura sighed and decided to drop the subject. She had known what she was signing up for when she decided to become a shinobi. Or at least she thought she did.

She would've expected the villages to invest time in fighting the Akatsuki – which would've helped her find Obito – instead of some petty missions for clients. Also, the fact that she was doing a mission that had nothing to do with that organization, would make it harder to find an excuse for Itachi's presence if Sasuke were to find out about him.

After finishing their dinner, Kakashi announced that he would be taking the first watch. Sakura and Sasuke entered the tent, which was for only two people since one of them was always expected to keep watch. Sakura quietly entered her sleeping bag and looked around a bit apprehensively, noting that they would be forced to sleep next to each other. She had never shared a tent with Sasuke in this time-line since they'd never traveled to such a cold country before. Sakura looked up and noticed that Sasuke was looking into her eyes with a blank face. She felt a blush creep into her face at the thought that he had figured out what she was thinking. The next second, Sasuke smirked a bit.

"What?" Sakura asked, flustered.

"Why are you blushing?" his question was only meant to unsettle her further. His eyes glinted mischievously and the smirk remained on his lips.

"I just felt warmer here, that's all." Sakura frowned, trying to keep her reactions at bay. She didn't want Sasuke to know the effect he had on her. At least not yet.

" _Warmer_?" he chuckled. "In this weather?"

"Well. Yes. I'm not a freezing old lady, unlike you." Sakura huffed.

"Oh, of _course_."

"Tch." Sakura averted her eyes.

"Hey." Sasuke's suddenly soft voice startled her and she looked back at him. A small smile – a honest smile – appeared on his face and his eyes locked with hers. "I won't do anything. You should know that by now."

"I know." Sakura smiled.She didn't know if she was supposed to be grateful for his respect of her privacy or disappointed because of his lack of interest.

"Good. Now, sleep."

Sasuke turned around so that she was facing his back and dropped down to the floor. Sakura sighed, knowing that she also needed to get to sleep soon and laid down next to him. The coldness of the night contrasted heavily with the warmth that radiated from Sasuke's body. Sakura wanted to relish that feeling, but after travelling at such a fast pace she felt the heaviness on her eyelids. Not five minutes later, she was sleeping like a rock.

However, sleeping in the cold was never a good thing. And so, Sakura woke up not one hour later with numbed fingers and toes. It was so cold, that the skin she couldn't completely cover with her sleeping bag hurt as if she was being stuck by tiny needles. Sakura forced her stiff body to move and even groaned at the effort. The sleepiness was still heavy on her eyes, but she needed to take care of that goddamn cold in order to keep on sleeping. She groggily got to a sitting position and started rubbing her hands on her arms and feet. One minute later, she was just as cold as before.

"Damn _."_ She quietly cursed.

"What wrong?" Sasuke's slightly raspy voice spoke up and she jumped in surprise.

"It's just… too cold. I feel like-"

"An old lady."

"-an ice cube." Sakura finished and raised an eyebrow at his remark.

Sasuke clearly hadn't forgotten her previous comment on him being an old lady. He made a small noise that sounded like a chuckle and then started opening his sleeping bag silently. Sakura watched him with curiosity, wondering what he was doing, until he started opening her own.

"What?"

"Would you rather be cold?" he asked without meeting her eyes, as he was preoccupied with the zipper on her sleeping bag.

Sakura didn't say anything and instead looked away from him. A _deep_ blush covered her cheeks and she felt like she was going to shout out in glee. She had dreamed of such a thing for so long. She had always wanted some kind of close contact with Sasuke, but she had honestly never expected that to happened. She couldn't believe he was attempting to-

"Sakura."

"Oh." Sakura quickly laid back down beside him and felt his arms wrap around her.

- _Cuddle_.

One of his arms passed under her neck and bent in order to cover her upper chest and shoulder. His other arm went over her side and arm, hugging her closer to him. He had pulled both sleeping bags closer together and rearranged them so that they acted as one.

Sakura felt her sleepiness leave her at once when she felt Sasuke's breath on the back of her neck. It sent shivers down her spine and made her stomach flutter in anticipation. Sasuke's body was almost pressed against her own and her mind couldn't help but intently focus on it. They were so close that she could faintly smell his scent; like firewood, steel, and his own indescribable aroma.

Sakura would've been a bit afraid of doing such a thing, but seeing as she was truly cold and Sasuke had taken the first step towards physical contact, she snuggled closer to him until the back of her body was pressed against his front. Sasuke tensed for a moment at her movement and she feared that he was going to pull away, but instead he hugged her even closer. His face almost buried into her neck and Sakura had to forcefully keep the tingling feelings at bay.

Her hand moved _coincidentally_ softy brushing his own, and it felt only barely warmer than hers. It was only then that Sakura noticed Sasuke was cold too – not as cold as she was but still too cold to sleep. She chuckled softly and covered his exposed hand with the sleeping bag.

"Who would've known?" She smiled. "You're just as much of an old lady."

"Not as bad as you though." He answered into the back of her neck. The action sent shivers down her spine and she unconsciously trembled. It was barely noticeable and Sakura _prayed_ that he wouldn't notice or assume it was the cold. She wasn't going to let him wonder about that though.

"Well we better get some sleep now."

"Hn."

If he noticed anything, he didn't voice it. Sakura was partly glad that he wasn't saying anything. But at the same time she wanted to know what he was thinking or to look at his face. Despite that, she didn't turn around, because she had the suspicion that her cheeks were still flushed. After a couple of minutes, the anxiousness left Sakura and she allowed herself to relax next to Sasuke.

Sakura was woken up several hours later by Sasuke, who was looking quite tired and cold after his mid shift – she couldn't help but think that it was always the worst one. She sat up trying not to wake Kakashi and went outside, immediately noticing the sharp cold that contrasted with the temperature inside the tent. Sakura shivered at the feeling of the cold against her skin and then took seat next to the barely burning coals of the previous fire. On second thought, maybe sleeping in two shifts wasn't as bad a staying up through the coldest hours of the night.

However bad the cold was, Sakura's spirit couldn't be put down. The fact that Sasuke had hugged her close while sleeping – _snuggled_ with her – of his own accord was something she'd never thought would happen. First of all, it had given her hope that Sasuke's feelings were indeed not platonic. Sasuke would've _never_ done such a thing to someone he just considered a friend – at least according to her. The thought of it made her smile in glee like a thirteen year old girl. Secondly, lying next to Sasuke – hugging or not – had helped her have a really restful sleep.

For months, Sakura had had a bit of a hard time falling asleep. Her troubles would constantly replay in her head. Every night she would think about what she was doing while working for Kabuto. His twisted smile played in her mind even though she had barely seen him ever since their encounter a couple months ago. Every night she would see the faces of the children she was healing from the diseases they had gotten from being in that damned hospital in the first place. Every night she felt that she was even guiltier than Kabuto, given that she _knew_ and _felt_ how wrong it all was. Sometimes she would feel like walking out of her house and spilling everything, only to finally cry herself to sleep. Her nights were usually accompanied by a constant feeling of numb anxiety.

However, she hadn't thought about any of it that night. She'd sleep peacefully instead. She hadn't woken up so refreshed in a long time, despite having only slept for six hours. Now she didn't only feel more recovered from her constant lack of a good night's sleep, but she also felt less stressed about everything that she had to do.

In all honestly, Sakura hoped that the mission would never end and that she would get to have that kind of contact with Sasuke every day. She knew that, sadly, it would come to an end all too soon.

 **-x-**

Team Kakashi arrived in the small village in the afternoon of the next day. It was truly small – 2,000 inhabitants at most – and it seemed like a peaceful place. The main income of the village was, apparently, small scale agriculture. Sakura wondered for a moment why such a small town would deliver so many criminals at one time; 20 of them was equivalent to 1% of their population.

Sakura noticed that everyone in the village was looking at them with apprehension and fear from inside their homes. Sakura wanted to tell them that shinobi – _Konoha_ shinobi – were not there to hurt them. That they weren't just mercenaries sent to destroy their lives. But she remembered the woman that she'd met during her past life, who had held deep distrust of shinobi. She hadn't been able to change her mind within days of time spent together, so she most probably wouldn't be able to do that with only a couple of sentences now.

The three of them walked into the central square – which looked almost like a backyard due to its tiny size – and found the people they were looking for. The twenty criminals were lined up and handcuffed on one side of the square, while on the other side were six civilians dressed in quite fancy clothes. It seemed to her that they were the leaders of the village, which appeared to be right because Kakashi approached one of them immediately.

"Ah. You're right on time." The man spoke loudly.

"Yes. We take our jobs very seriously." Kakashi nodded once.

"Good. I can trust you'll complete the task without a doubt then." He nodded and motioned to the handcuffed people. "This is the group that you are to escort to the port."

"All right." Kakashi nodded once again.

"I would've invited you to stay the night, but they have to be there tomorrow morning."

"We understand. It's not an issue." The silver haired jonin spoke clearly. "Is there a particularly difficult case we need to look out for? Or something that we should be wary of?"

"Not particularly." the apparent leader shrugged. "They behave properly, I believe."

"That's good to hear. We'll be setting out immediately then."

Sakura followed her team closely as they took a quick glance at the group. She couldn't help but notice that the supposed "criminals" looked… scrawny. They didn't seem like a threat at all. But then again, many criminals didn't need to be physically capable to commit crimes.

They immediately began their journey towards the port. Kakashi walked at the front, given that he had a better understanding of the terrain due to his experience. Sakura walked in the middle of the group, since she had more rough strength and knowledge on people's pressure points which could easily paralyze even a grown man. Sasuke walked at the back, since his sharingan didn't consume a lot of chakra quickly and he could watch the group more thoroughly.

They travelled slowly, since the civilian group they were escorting needed to take breaks every now and then. During one of those breaks, Sakura decided to approach a middle-aged man that seemed more tired than the rest and her medic eye immediately noticed that he was suffering from a disease. She knew they were criminals and her team was only supposed to deliver them safely to the port, but she couldn't shake her medic instincts. She stopped in front of his sitting form and kneeled down to face him. The man didn't meet her eyes and instead looked at the ground in a submissive way. Sakura felt uncomfortable with that, since it made her feel like _she_ was the criminal and he was the victim. She decided to simply voice her thoughts.

"You're sick."

"Yeah…" he spoke quietly.

"I'm a medic. I can take a look." She announced and he shrugged. Sakura took it as a signal of him not minding and she used her chakra to check his systems. After a couple seconds she frowned. "As I feared given the tone of your skin and eyes, you have a liver disease. It's pretty advanced by now and it's ruining the health of all of your other organs and body functions."

"That's good to hear." The man forced a smile, but his expression seemed to not really care at all about his state of health. He had even seemed genuinely glad that his overall health was bad.

Sakura wondered why he would disregard such a serious condition. He didn't seem to be the kind of criminal who would get a death sentence or a lifetime sentence in prison. Why would he give up on life so soon? Sakura imagined that he was affected by the fact that he was being imprisoned and was feeling too depressed to care at the moment.

"I can heal you." She offered.

"Tch. There's no use." His eyes darkened as he said that. Sakura was about to ask why he would say such a thing, when Kakashi approached them.

"If you're sick while travelling it will hinder the movement of the whole group." He said in a commanding tone. Kakashi was serious and strict when it came to missions, despite his intrinsic aloof attitude. "She will heal you."

Sakura looked at Kakashi, who shared a glance with her. She promptly understood that he was quietly telling her _not_ to engage in conversation as they had been instructed. Given how regular the group of civilians looked, Sakura imagined that they had committed blackmail or fraud. That would mean that their weapons were not strength, but manipulation and extortion. It made sense that they had been told not to talk to the group of prisoners.

She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded at the jonin and immediately put her glowing hands on the man's lower abdomen. It took her five minutes to reverse most of the damage, but she couldn't completely heal him. After all, healing such a disease needed many sessions so that the body could do its part to heal too. Despite that, she did enough so that the man would get many years of health until his state reversed back to what it was at the moment. As soon as they got the group to the port, Sakura would make sure to tell the captain about that issue so that he notified the prison.

"There you go." She told him and attempted a smile.

The man looked at her with a frown, as if he didn't understand why she was making such an effort. Sakura wanted to ask – she really had a hard time following instructions that forced her emotions to shut down – but she didn't want Kakashi to reprimand her again. After all, those people would be going to prison no matter what she did. They probably deserved that too. She stood up, dusted her thick ninja pants and walked back to the group as they resumed their journey.

Four hours after departing from the small village, sunset started to near and they set up camp. However this time around, team seven wouldn't be allowed to sleep inside a tent because they needed to be ready for any attempts of escape. Therefore they needed to keep the fire going all night long to fight off the cold, not just for their own sakes but also for the prisoners. Each of the prisoners had been carrying a small bag that contained water for their travel, some bread to last the journey and a blanket. As the group of prisoners quietly took out their stuff, Kakashi turned to look at the rest of his team.

"Sakura, I'm putting you in charge of gathering enough firewood to last the night." Kakashi announced. His eye met her own and she immediately understood that he was giving her a chance to meet with Itachi.

"No pro-"

"I don't agree with this." Sasuke interjected with a frown. "You know what happened last time."

"We were on a mission that involved the Akatsuki at the time." Kakashi explained, at the same time keeping close watch of the group. "This time there is no reason to fear such an encounter."

"I still don't understand why you would put her at risk." Sasuke kept his expression unwavering.

"Why shouldn't she go? She's as strong as any of us." The silverette answered.

"Sakura is our medic. She should be kept away from risk."

"She's also the one with the most strength. She will be more capable of bringing the firewood we need quickly, which will shorten the time there's only two of us keeping watch."

"I still think it's not a wise decision. I could go find the firewood. Or you could. Sakura would be useful here if something happens."

"There is a bigger chance that something will happen with only two of us, Sasuke." Kakashi said, now with an edge on his voice. He was losing his patience. "Don't you think it'll be safer is she goes out to find firewood?"

"You're wrong. If-"

" _Sasuke._ " Kakashi's voice was steel hard. He noticed how the group of prisoners was staring at their argument quietly. He was _not_ going to lose control of the situation in front of them. He was also not going to miss the chance of allowing Sakura to talk with Itachi. "I was appointed as leader of the mission. The decision is final."

Sasuke clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth. He was _never_ one to allow anyone to shut him up like that. He didn't understand Kakashi's stubbornness in sending Sakura out alone, even if for a short while. It was common sense that the medic nin was always to be kept safe. It also made him worry. What if something happened to her while she was away? He was honestly more concerned of rogues than of the handful of scrawny civilians they were escorting. In the end, he knew he couldn't defy the authority of his superior during a mission, especially when he was making the team look divided in front of the group of prisoners.

" _All right._ " He still showed his disagreement in the tone of his voice and the way his eyes narrowed at Kakashi. He turned to look at Sakura and frowned.

"I'll be fine, Sasuke." She reassured him, slightly touched by his worry. "I'll be back before you know it."

"You better." His voice wasn't threatening, instead had a hint of worry in it. If Sakura didn't do as she said, he would feel compelled to leave Kakashi alone to look after the group and go find Sakura on his own.

Sakura nodded at both her teammates and turned around. She walked into the woods quickly, trying to steady her heartbeat. She wasn't as afraid to meet with Itachi this time around – _if_ he showed up – because she was aware that he was on her side. What worried her was the fact the she needed to get back to her team soon before Sasuke decided she'd taken too long and went to find her. If he saw her and Itachi together once again, he wouldn't let it slide as he had the last time. He would get suspicious and he wouldn't let her walk away without a proper answer.

Sakura walked into the forest for five minutes as she gathered firewood as she was expected to. However, as she did, her senses were on high alert and she was thoroughly allowing her sharpened instincts to survey her surroundings. She was just starting to worry that Itachi wouldn't show up when she noticed the faintest shift in the atmosphere. Her heart jumped as she checked for a third presence nearby. She only turned around and spoke when she was sure they were alone.

"Itachi."

"Sakura." The older Uchiha greeted her.

"Help me gather some firewood as we speak. I can't take too long; Sasuke came along." Itachi nodded once and then walked next to her as they gathered the required wood. "I've been really worried… I haven't been able to leave Konoha until now. Is there any news on the Akatsuki?"

"Yes. There is good and bad news."

"Ok… bad news first."

"I spent a couple months trying to find Zestu. When I finally found him he was alone, so I assumed it was the best opportunity I would get. However… there was something I didn't expect. Zetsu is too strong. Actually, I don't even think he's human."

"What?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"None of my attacks or genjutsu harmed him. I used my last resort to escape… at least I managed to analyze him for a while. He's almost like a bijuu." When Sakura paled, he lifted his hand. " _Not_ as strong as one, but definitely stronger than any other Akatsuki member – maybe only Tobi is at his level. But I'm comparing him to a bijuu because, when I fought him, his levels of chakra proved to be incredibly high. Just imagine the Kyuubi's chakra inside him. So, it's quite a task to kill him."

"That's… weird. I've never heard of something like that."

"I didn't see any signs of that in your memories." Itachi pointed out.

"There wasn't. I just… the Juubi went out of control and then everything went to hell. I don't know if Zetsu survivied… I also didn't see him around the battle."

"Well, we know he has an inter-dimensional ability. He must've gotten out of there as soon as he realized what was going to happen."

"Probably." Sakura bit her lip as she picked up more firewood. "So… we're stuck now."

"With Zetsu, yes we are. I can't be the one to confront him anymore, because as soon as he senses me he will teleport somewhere else." Itachi closed his eyes in a calm way. "However, I decided to hinder the Akatsuki in a different way. I had to stop to recover for a month after meeting with him, but I then started looking for other Akatsuki members."

"Have you managed to kill any yet?" Sakura felt a spark of hope in her.

"Yes. I just defeated one; Hidan. I can't risk fighting two members at once, because the risk would be too big. I have to wait until they're on their own and that happens only seldom."

"Of course, you have to be careful." Sakura agreed with his decision. "But… Zetsu worries me. If he's as strong as you say… what is he planning? Why isn't _he_ running the Akatsuki? Why is he working from the shadows? The worst is that we can't defeat him."

"Well… there is a chance. As I told you, the only one who might be able to kill him is Obito. We need to have him on our side in order to have a chance."

"But I don't think that's enough… how can you kill someone with that much chakra?"

"That's the other part." Itachi explained. "You are a poison expert, aren't you?"

"Wait, I see where you're going." Sakura stopped walking for a second and held her chin in thought. "I have already developed a poison that affects the circulation of chakra in the body. But I don't think that it's strong enough to stop such a great amount of chakra. Maybe… if I tried to refine it… and if I use medical chakra in addition to that. Maybe we could stop him. "

"That's good to hear. I'll leave that in your hands, is that all right?" Itachi smiled and Sakura nodded. He immediately looked ahead and started picking firewood once again. "How has everything been in Konoha?"

"Oh. _Bad._ " Sakura sighed. Itachi turned his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow as she picked another branch up. "It's been… hard. Kabuto managed to come back in time too, and he's head medic of the hospital now. And my direct boss. Yay."

"That sounds complicated. Do you know what he's planning?" Itachi asked.

"I have an idea, but I can't be sure because most rooms are on lockdown and I can't risk him finding out that I'm disobeying him." Sakura sighed. "When I confronted him about the horrible things he was doing in a secret lab inside the hospital –what he was making _me_ do – he threatened to inform Danzo of my time travel. Of Sasuke's crimes in his past life."

"Has Kabuto threatened your life in any way, Sakura?" Itachi looked at her dead serious.

"Not _really_. He just wants me to comply and do my work. For now."

"I'm sorry about what you're going through." Itachi closed his eyes softly. "What do you think he's planning?"

"I believe he's trying to find a way to intervene with human genes. Though I still don't know what exactly he's trying to achieve."

"That sounds dangerous. We can't let Kabuto do such a thing and become even more powerful." Itachi frowned. "Let me tell you what. While you're inside Konoha, try to find a way to deal with Danzo and Kabuto without much risk. Also, try to develop the chakra poison we talked about. Whenever you have a chance of leaving Konoha, I'll try to contact you if possible. On the other hand, I'll try to deal with the Akatsuki for now and I'll contact you as soon as Obito is reachable."

"Sounds good. I'll talk to Kakashi about this."

Itachi nodded now and then handed the firewood he'd gathered to Sakura. "You should go back now. It's been too long and Sasuke should be wondering why you aren't back yet."

"I know." She agreed. "I hope to see you soon. Take care."

Sakura locked eyes with Itachi for one last second and immediately headed back to camp at a quite fast pace. As she neared it, she felt her heartbeat slow down as she'd been afraid that someone would see her with Itachi – more specifically Sasuke. Now that they had parted ways, she felt some of the stress finally leave her. As soon as she walked into the clearing, Sasuke walked towards her with a slight frown.

"Why did you take so long?" he questioned.

"I was gathering firewood…" Sakura said simply with a smile.

"I _know_ that. But why did you bring so much?" it was only then that Sakura looked down at the amount she'd brought back. Given that she and Itachi had been constantly gathering sticks, she now had more firewood than originally needed.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure. We don't want to run out of firewood in the middle of the night, do we? One of us would have to leave camp and wake another one of us as well."

"Maybe." Sasuke spoke with a slow and low voice. He was slightly upset about the fact the she'd taken longer than she'd told him, but he knew that he couldn't make a fuss about it either. He then turned around and walked back to where everyone else was sitting.

Sakura sighed in surrender and then her eyes roamed around the camp, immediately finding Kakashi. He locked questioning eyes with her and she immediately nodded – her face dead serious. Kakashi seemed to get that she'd met Itachi, because he nodded back at her before going back to his previous task with a criminal.

After making sure everybody in the group had properly had their dinner, they settled the group of prisoners in around the fire. The shinobi who was keeping watch would be sitting on one edge of the group as to have a good view of everything that was going one. The other two would be sleeping on opposite sides forming a triangle with the one on watch, to make sure to have the whole place covered in case something happened.

Sakura was the first to keep watch that night. She quietly sat down and rubbed her hands as she pondered about what Itachi had said. The fact that he had met with her did put her at ease. Knowing that such a strong person was an active ally was truly helpful for her nerves. Knowing that he was managing well in handling the Akatsuki also helped. Sakura knew that he was strong enough to beat most Akatsuki members on a one-on-one fight, so she chances were that he would actually manage to diminish their forces.

However, knowing that Zetsu was so much stronger made her feel worried. It felt… wrong. She had never expected a stronger member to appear. She had always assumed that Pain was the strongest, and then maybe Obito. But now… what was the true face of Akatsuki? She was truly disconcerted. On the other hand, she was quite sure about her skills when it came to poisons and chakra. She was, after all, the best medic of this time – since Tsunade had died – and had also studied from Chiyo, who had been the best poison expert alive. If there was someone who could actually find a way to block such a great amount of chakra from freely flowing within the body, it was her and she had a couple ideas.

Still, Sakura knew that it was not the time to dwell on such matters. She was in the middle of a mission and couldn't afford to let her guard down. As hours passed, she wondered why no one was trying to escape. She continuously passed her chakra around the place and sensed everybody's presence, so she was sure they were asleep. Sure, they must've been tired from the hours of journey during that day. But that didn't seem like a good enough reason for them to simply _sleep_ through their one chance. They also mostly didn't seem physically ill, so it was weird. They also seemed… docile. She had subconsciously noticed that as they travelled during the day. Which was weird. Even the weakest criminals wouldn't waste a chance to get their way.

At that moment, a shift in the atmosphere alerted her that someone to her right had woken up. She immediately saw that a woman had woken up with a start and gotten to a sitting position. Sakura locked eyes with her and straightened up a bit, as to let the woman know that she was aware of her movements. The woman had a scared expression – probably from a nightmare – and took a couple seconds to realize that Sakura was looking at her. When she did, she quickly looked at the floor and then laid back down. Sakura knew that the woman took a long time to fall back asleep – because she could hear the rhythm of her breathing from where she was sitting – but she didn't once say anything or move again.

It was almost like she was… scared. And ironically, it made Sakura feel, yet again, as if she was the real criminal.

 **A/N: I had to split this chapter in half, because it was going to turn out to be longer than 10k.**

 **So, I decided to post the first half of the mission now.**

 **There's some fluff in here. It's kinda sweet how Sasuke has opened up to her, right?**

 **What do you think about the mission? Any thoughts?**

 **What about her talk with Itachi?**

 **As always, I'd love to hear what you think about this one!**

 **Thank you all so much for the support! It really means a lot when I read your reviews, even when it's only 'good job'. It's really the best a fiction author can get.**

 **I also want to thank my beta reader MonochromeAce for revising the chapter in less than a day! She's even going to start checking the first couple chapters of the story, which were posted without a second reading.**


	38. Principles and Duty

**CHAPTER 38**

The whole night had gone by without any unexpected events. They had woken up at sunrise and allowed some time for everyone to have something to eat and then guarded the party in groups so that they could have a toilet break. As soon as they had picked everything up and had put out the fire properly, they set out towards the dock. Sakura wanted nothing more than share her thoughts about the people they were guarding with the rest of her team. However, given it was a numerous group which they were escorting, team seven couldn't stand side by side.

Not three hours later, they had arrived at the appointed docks. Kakashi approached the ship that he had been instructed to and greeted the man in charge, while Sakura and Sasuke stayed behind and made sure everyone stayed put. Sakura tried to make sense of what they were talking about, but Kakashi had his back turned to her and the captain of the ship had a _huge_ beard so she couldn't read his lips. It came to her attention that the ship that would be taking the group across the sea was filled with men with pale skin, which contrasted with everyone else on that dock – who had a dark tone of skin.

Kakashi dutifully moved aside as the crew of the ship moved the group into the ship. Sakura faintly noticed that someone was looking at her and she realized that it was the man she'd healed the day before. He was frowning at her… in a disheartened manner. She felt her heart sink at the feeling it evoked in her. She wondered if she was being too soft with criminals – as Sasuke had pointed out before – or if her gut was actually telling her something.

She had wanted to walk up and ask where they were heading, but Kakashi held her arm and eyed her reproachfully. Sakura bit her lip, knowing that during missions no questions should be asked. She _knew_ that she was expected to just deliver and go home. Konoha's reputation was at stake too, and Kakashi was well aware of that. Sakura finally decided to let it go and simply allow the ship to take off.

"Off to the Land of Ice! Lift the veils!" a member of the crew announced.

"I have the feeling that something was off with this mission." She finally said when no one was close enough to hear.

Sasuke and Kakashi said nothing, but simply started into the sea. She looked at the both of them and saw that their eyes weren't blank. Both her teammates were good at masking their thoughts, but she could sometimes see through them. At the moment, they seemed just as conflicted as she was. Sakura only felt worse about not saying anything before, but knew that there was nothing else to do at that point.

Team seven started the journey back to Konoha silently. Sakura could feel the thickness in the air and knew that they were all thinking back on the mission. She wondered for a moment if they knew something that she didn't, mainly because it wasn't like them to be unsettled for no reason at all. However, Sakura trusted them and decided that they would've told her if they knew.

They stopped for a late lunch next to a river. Sasuke lit a fire, while Sakura and Kakashi caught some fish to roast under the fire. As they were eating, Sakura decided to ask once again about the issue that had been bugging her.

"Hey… guys. I know I already asked but don't you think there was something wrong about this mission?"

"Hmm…" Kakashi put a hand to his chin and looked at the fish in his hand. "I don't know. Why would you say that?"

"Every one of them seemed weak, they didn't look like thugs to me." Sakura explained. "Also, they didn't seem rebellious at all. Don't you think it's weird that they didn't attempt to escape? Not _one_ of them? They also seemed too submissive to be real criminals."

"Hm. My guess is that they were more into blackmailing and fiscal crime. They don't need muscle to do that."

"But what about their behavior? They were almost _scared_ of us!"

"Of course they were. We were shinobi. They had probably never traveled with one before, so it's expected." Kakashi answered slowly… but Sakura felt his voice quaver in a barely noticeable manner. She knew him well enough to be sure that he wasn't telling the whole truth. Kakashi must've also noticed the way his voice failed, because he turned his head away from her.

Sakura frowned and wondered if Kakashi was also having doubts of whether or not he _indeed_ knew something. It seemed that he didn't want to share it with her, probably because he didn't trust what her reaction to it would be. Or maybe he was hiding it from Sasuke?

"Sasuke?" Sakura's voice called as she looked at the Uchiha.

"Hn."

"What about you?" Sasuke was just as smart as she was. If _she_ had noticed something off, then he definitely had too. "Don't you think it seemed weird?"

Sasuke remained quiet for some time. She notice that he glanced at Kakashi – who was sitting on the other side of her – and quickly looked back at the jonin; he was still looking away. But he _could've_ been looking at Sasuke just before. Sakura frowned and looked back at the raven haired teen.

"You shouldn't overthink things, Sakura." Sasuke said.

Unlike Kakashi, Sasuke's voice was even and his face was blank. Nonetheless, his eyes were softer than before. Yes. She only managed to see through him because she knew him too well. But the fact remained. Sasuke's eyes never looked like that unlike he was affected. To Sakura… he seemed guilty. Did he feel guilty because he was lying to her? Or maybe because she was somehow right and he knew it too? Or maybe Sakura really was overthinking?

"We should move out already." Kakashi informed. Sasuke immediately stood up and started packing his things up.

Sakura sighed, knowing that she wouldn't manage to get them to speak unless she asked while they were alone back in Konoha. Sakura threw some dust on the still burning coals to put it out and then picked up her travelling bag.

They travelled at a fast pace, so they managed to get back to Konoha in just one day. It also helped that the dock where they had delivered the group had been on their way back to Konoha, so it shortened their travelling distance.

Usually whenever Sakura came back from a mission into Konoha, she felt eager. She wanted nothing but to get back into her routine, into the hospital. However, when she saw the village now… she didn't feel it. She almost felt disappointed. And _of course_ she would. Going back to the village meant going back to working with Kabuto. Going back to finding out more unsettling things about her village, the council and the Clans.

They slowed down when they were getting to the gates. Sakura absentmindedly waved at the guards on the gates, but didn't realize if they actually greeted her back or not. She slowly walked through the streets, behind Sasuke and Kakashi. Her eyes were wandering restlessly around her, as the heavy feelings didn't leave her chest. At one point, they passed by a bookstore, where some newspaper was hung at the front. Her eyes immediately read the headline.

' _Land of Ice Questioned'_

She stopped dead in her tracks and walked towards the newspaper and she grabbed it roughly. She read the headline once again and then opened the pages where it the news was detailed. However, there was no real explanation for the title. It only said that there were some inhuman and illegal activities going on there, and the international community had become aware of them.

"Would you like to buy today's newspaper, Sakura?"

"Oh?" Sakura realized then that the saleswoman – Akari, a woman she'd previously spoken to and was pretty educated and informed – was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a smile. She also noticed that Kakashi and Sasuke had stopped walking and come back to stand next to her. "Hey there, Akari. I was just wondering what might be wrong with the Land of Ice."

"Oh. No problem. I can tell you about it."

"Akari-san." Kakashi interrupted. "We're actually on our way to see Hokage-sama. So I don't think there's time for this right now."

"I don't think it'll take long." Sakura retorted before the other woman could speak and turned her emerald eyes to stare into Kakashi's lone one. "I'm sure no one will notice if we take 5 minutes longer to get there."

"You don't know how long it'll take, Sakura." Kakashi answered. Oh, but Sakura _knew_ that Kakashi was trying to keep her from hearing this. She was _not_ going to let it slide. She needed to clear her questions regarding the mission.

"She could make a summary." Sakura said. She could see Sasuke's eyes go back and forth between her and Kakashi's form. He seemed a bit… tense?

"I don't think this is a good idea right now, Sakura." The Uchiha said.

"Why not? Is there something you guys know and I don't?" Sakura squinted her eyes at her team mates. Sasuke looked away from her, a small frown on his face. So, they _were_ hiding something.

"Sakura-" Kakashi looked at her straight in the eye and was going to say something else, but Sakura spoke up first.

"Akari-san. Please tell me." Sakura looked at the other woman once again. She had noticed the tension between the three of them, but after a couple seconds of silence she finally sighed.

"Actually… I just finished my shift." She explained. "So I can walk you there and I'll tell you on the way, ok?"

"Sure, thank you." Sakura smiled and began walking towards Danzo's bunker, followed by Akari and the rest of her team.

"There have been some public leaks on what's been going on in the Land of Ice." Akari and Sakura walked side by side. "All that's known to the public is that there are some illegal activities that have been going down there. But I've read my own share of non-official publications and have a good idea what it's all about."

"What have you learned?" Sakura questioned as they took a turn on the street that led towards Danzo. "Is it bad?"

"It is actually. It's a difficult situation. As you must know, the Land of Ice is an inhospitable place to live, so there's little human settlements. Most of the land is wild and there's no order there. So, since most nations have spread their influence throughout their territory, many groups of semi-organized crime have moved out to the Land of Ice. Since there's not much around there, they're really hard to track and take care of."

"I have read about them not having complete control of their territory." Sakura hadn't really known about the criminals. With everything she'd been dealing with lately, she hadn't read any news in _months._

"Recently, there has been an increased movement regarding human trafficking."

"Human… trafficking?" Sakura felt her chest constrict. It couldn't be…

"Yes. Most groups have taken part in that kind of activity. They bring poor people from different nations under the cover that they are prisoners or ill people seeking for help. They take them across the sea that surrounds the Land of Ice and then into their headquarters. I don't exactly know what happens afterwards… but we can safely assume that they deliver the _goods_ from there to different nations. Either it be slaves or human organs, or whatever they do with the poor souls that are sent to them."

Sakura stood frozen at the spot. Her hands shaking and her arms stiff at her sides. It couldn't be. Sakura felt her heart breaking under the notion that everything seemed to be pointing to. It all made sense now. She felt Sasuke shift uncomfortably, moving to stand behind her and Kakashi move closer.

"Sakura." The older jonin put a hand on her shoulder. "We should-"

"Akari." Sakura didn't pay any mind to Kakashi as she gathered herself. She looked at the woman once again, who seemed a bit puzzled at Sakura's previous reaction. "Please tell me more about these groups."

"Ok. But, Sakura… are you all right?"

"Don't worry. It's just always sad to find out about these things…"

"Well, ok. All I know is that they come from outside the Land of Ice, so they don't have their usual traits; you know, dark skin and hair." Akari put her hand to her chin in thought. "I can't say anything else for sure. There's some info on how to identify them, but it's mostly contradictory and I wouldn't want to say anything I'm only partially sure of."

"O-ok. Thank you, Akari." Sakura forced a smile, but it came out as a grimace. Akari bit her lower lip as she looked as Sakura and noticed the dark eyes of her team mates.

"I… think I should leave now. I'll see you around, Sakura." She waved the pinkette good-bye and left quickly.

Sakura couldn't find another way to cope with how she felt, so she kept on walking. She walked at a fast pace down the street, as she went over all of the info again and came to the same conclusion. The crew that had taken the group of people away had light skin – not dark skin like the natives of the Land of Ice had. The group had never acted like criminals and they had all seemed too scrawny to be healthy. The looks of fear in their eyes, the way they shied away from team seven. The way the man she'd healed had seemed completely disregarding of his health – as if it didn't really matter to him. How none of the people they had been escorting had tried to escape.

"Sakura-" Sasuke quickly appeared next to Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder, but she slapped it away.

"You _knew._ " She hissed and stopped walking. "The both of you. How… how _could_ you?!"

"Sakura, you have to understand-" his voice was soft despite her outburst.

"What is it that I have to understand, Sasuke?" she raised her voice. "How we all just sold our souls overnight?! How youhad me do _this_ without my knowledge?!"

"Sakura-" Kakashi stepped closer and grabbed her arm. "Keep your voice down."

"Like hell I will!" she shook him off and could feel tears form in her eyes. "How could you not tell me, Kakashi? I trusted you! Both of you!"

Before anyone could say anything else, another presence neared them. Sakura froze on the spot and turned around to see a root ANBU. It wasn't just any root ANBU, it was the one that had been guarding the entrance to Danzo's bunker. He seemed to have noticed some commotion – of course he did, they were standing only a couple meters away from him – and had approached to check if things were fine.

"Is there a problem?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"Not at all." Kakashi answered calmly. "Some differences regarding team dynamics."

"Ah." The ANBU didn't seem to completely buy the excuse, but didn't ask further. "You've come to see Hokage-sama, haven't you? He's expecting you. I'll escort you there."

Sakura tensed even further at her spot next to Kakashi and Sasuke, but had to move and follow the ANBU. Sasuke and Kakashi immediately caught up and she felt both of them elbow her on the sides a couple times. She could _feel_ their eyes burning on the sides of her head. They probably were expecting her to look their way. Or calm down.

But _how_ could she even calm down? Sakura had taken part in _human trafficking._ She had just… delivered innocent and defenseless people into the claws of a criminal organization. It wasn't just that… as a medic, Sakura had read reports on what happened to people in those situations. She had even seen some of the consequences first hand in her previous life. Starvation, humiliation, worked to death, rape, torture and all forms of physical and psychological abuse. She was so horrified by what she'd played part in, that she could barely keep the bile down. Her nausea clouded her sight and she almost tripped a couple times as they walked down towards Danzo's office.

"Sakura… _calm down_." She heard Kakashi whisper, but she promptly ignored him.

And she wasn't just _upset._ She was _furious._ She had never felt so angry. She wanted to beat the hell out of Kakashi and Sasuke for not telling her about what they'd known. She felt so deeply betrayedthat they had kept something like _that_ from her. She felt utterly disappointed that they had willingly completed the mission even when knowing what they were dealing with. She didn't know who had negatively surprised her more; Kakashi, being someone with great experience with horrible missions but mature and level-headed, or Sasuke, someone who had a felt a lot of hate during his life but had never before played a part in those types of dealings in this timeline.

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice was on edge too by now, the softness from before completely gone. She felt his hand around her forearm, but she pulled away from him.

Sakura felt so _sickened_. The village she loved. What had become of it? How far would they go? Did the clans know about this? Did _Danzo_ know about this? Had it even been different before he became Hokage? Or had everything been done by ANBU in secret before? Sakura felt dizzy with confusion and regret. What could she have done to prevent it? Could she even do anything at this point?

The weight of everything was coming down on her again. It felt like that time _years_ ago, when Tsunade had died. When she had felt the pressure of everything being too much for her and she had lost control of what she said and did. Right now, all of it was destroying her spirit. The fact that the Juubi was still a threat. The possibility that Zetsu was so much more dangerous than she'd imagined – even more than Obito. The knowledge that she'd allowed Danzo and Kabuto to get to positions of power in this timeline. The things that she'd been forced to do for Kabuto. The fact that she'd played part of the slave trade. And the fact that both her team mates hadn't told her about it.

What had she done to deserve all this? Had she been a tyrant in her past life and now had to deal with all these horrible situations?. She couldn't do _anything_ about what happened in her life. She couldn't speak up about any of the things she knew were going on. She felt trapped; like a pressure cooker about to explode and she couldn't let any steam off.

But she then realized, not everything was a secret. _This_ particular subject – the mission they'd just completed – was something she couldspeak about. Most of the time, she felt like her hands were tied, but there was no reason why she couldn't speak her mind now. If she didn't say anything at this point, she would finally cross the line. The line between being cautious and being a coward.

Before anyone could say something to her, the root ANBU had lead team Kakashi to Danzo's office. He pushed the door open and motioned with his head for the team to enter. Sasuke and Kakashi entered slowly, trying to look as if nothing was wrong.

Sakura, on the other hand, walked in with her eyes intently focused on Danzo. Her face was blank, but her posture was strong. Usually, Sasuke would've never wanted to her see her looking weak and defeated, but at this moment he would've rather seen her like that then looking… this strong-willed. She seemed almost… defying. He wanted to tell her stay calm back _so_ badly, but he didn't know how she would react. If she reacted badly to his words, Danzo would ask about what the issue was. And everything could go down-hill from there.

"Team Kakashi." Danzo's deep voice echoed in the dark room. "I see you've returned unharmed. I assume the mission was completed."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi slightly bowed his head down. "We were handed the group in a peaceful way. The way towards the dock went without events. And they were delivered to the ship the way the mission requested. There were no problems at all and the mission went just as expected."

"Good. I expect a mission report-"

"Were there any problems to be expected _at all_?" Sakura's strong voice interrupted Danzo.

"What?" the fifth seemed quite taken aback by the sudden interruption – obviously _not_ being used to people talking to him that way.

"How could _anyone_ expect too many problems with the prisoners, when they're slaves being sold from one owner to another?" Sakura's voice resounded through the room. Kakashi held her wrist in a painful grip, but Sakura had long ago built a high pain tolerance. She twisted her arm to release herself from Kakashi's hold. "Did you know about this, Hokage-sama?"

Despite the title being used, her words didn't express much respect. Danzo narrowed his eyes at the pink haired girl and spoke with a clear voice. "Haruno Sakura. I'm quite _sure_ I don't need to explain myself to you."

"Sakura-" Sasuke took a step closer to her and was about to say something else, but she spoke again.

"Was Konoha _aware_ that the mission they had accepted was part of human trafficking?"

Danzo had his eyes intently focused on the rather _small_ and young person that stood in front of him. That was _questioning_ him of all things. She was standing up to his authority and saying what she wanted, without any reservations on what it may cost her. A thick silence took place in Danzo's office, while the leader looked at the girl and the rest of her team stayed silent in complete anxiety.

" _You_ think you know what it takes to run a shinobi village?" Danzo's loud voice was almost a roar. "Where do you think _power_ comes from, girl? Good intentions? Flowers and love?"

Sakura's eyes widened a bit. So it was true. Danzo had always known what the mission was about – of course he had. Nonetheless, Sakura felt disheartened. How was she even supposed to trust in orders from now on? She was willing to do _so_ much for her village. She had always been willing to die to protect her nation and her home. She had been willing to _kill_ people who threatened it. But this – abusing and killing innocents – was too much.

"There's a limit!" Sakura shook her head as she fixated her eyes on the ground. Her voice was quivering, but it still had a strong edge to it. "Unethical deeds shouldn't be actions that Konoha takes to become strong!"

"How should Konoha become strong, then? Save everyone?" Danzo's face was serious, but she heard the mocking tone in his words. "Don't make me laugh."

"That _should_ be the most important thing!"

"Your words express your stupidity and naivety." Danzo spat and then leaned back, his face hardening like steel.

"It's not naivety. It's about not crossing the line between doing what's necessary and destroying the lives of people." She answered swiftly. Sasuke and Kakashi were, by now, dead quiet and staring at her – hoping that she would stop defying Danzo. They were aware that things might go even worse if they got involved.

"In the shinobi world, there is no such thing. It's a _military_ system and it requires _absolute_ obedience." Danzo was quickly losing his patience. "There is no room for ethics."

"What about peace? What about people's lives?" Sakura answered, trying to stop herself from snapping at the current Hokage.

"Power doesn't allow space for such considerations." Danzo answered ruthlessly, his voice rising once again. "I may have to question your loyalty. Are foreign people's lives more important than your duty to your village?"

"I didn't mean it like that." Sakura answered quickly. "I just-"

"Seeing your rebellious behavior, I'm compelled to question the validity of your report on Suna." Danzo narrowed his eyes at her. "You're _exactly_ the kind of person who would put her village at risk to cooperate with a village based on _nothing._ With _peace_ as the basic principle."

"N-No!" Sakura gulped, realizing that where things were heading. "Sir, I would _never_ -"

"You could easily be a traitor to our village, Haruno."

Sakura had been slightly blinded by the helpless feelings storming in her chest. The knot on her throat the biggest she'd felt in a long time. But, when Danzo spoke that last sentence, she fully came back to her senses and realized her terrible mistake. If she spoke up to Danzo like this – even if it was for a subject that didn't involve her time travel – he could decide to distrust her. He could decide to look into her. How stupid had she been? She'd jumped into the first exit for her inner turmoil and hadn't given it a second thought.

"I'm not, sir." Her head hung low.

She was going to speak once more, but her words died in her throat and her hands became sweaty. It felt like minutes, but there were only a couple of seconds of silence. Kakashi seemed to realize the weight of the situation too, because he was frozen in spot.

Sakura looked at Danzo once again. His face was as impassive as always but she could clearly see the anger in his eyes. It was then that she realized how mistaken she'd been. That she had probably etched her fate in stone when she spoke up to him. That her mission – the Juubi, the _Juubi_ for fucks sake – would go spiraling down the drain. That _everything_ would go terribly wrong now. Her heartbeat started to drum in her chest, and she was wondering if she should attack Danzo or desert Konoha.

Danzo had seemed to be in thought for those few seconds. He finally took a deep breath in and was about to speak, but Sasuke took a step forward.

"Danzo-sama." Sasuke's voice was calm but strong, and she once again wondered how on earth he managed to keep his cool. Danzo didn't speak further, which he took as permission to talk. "I would like to talk to you about Haruno Sakura's behavior just now. There's a good explanation for this."

Danzo's hard eyes looked at Sasuke for a moment and then narrowed at Sakura. She felt her heartbeat go mad in her ribcage at the notion that maybe he would refuse and send her down to interrogation. Finally, the Fifth closed his eyes with annoyance.

"There better be." He almost spat and then turned to a root ANBU. "Escort Haruno to the waiting room down the hall and have her stay there until I settle this. Kakashi, you're dismissed too."

The root ANBU was immediately next to Sakura and pushed her out of the room. Kakashi followed closely as they neared the door, given that he had also been instructed to leave. Sakura gathered herself and looked at the silver haired jonin. His eyes were narrowed at her – no wonder – and his whole face was tense. He was clearly angry about her outburst and had been expecting the worst, just like her.

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Sasuke turned to look at his mentor, who had reclined back on his seat. He stared up at the Uchiha and nodded his head at the chair that on the other side of his desk. Sasuke made his way to it in a calm manner and sat down.

"So. What is this _explanation_ that you have."

"I've known Haruno Sakura since we were twelve. She had always been a particularly sensitive person, who had always tried to do what she thought was right and help everyone she came across." Sasuke explained. "That's part of the reason that she became a medic nin. As you can imagine, in that line of work she has probably seen – or at least read of – what happens to people that are subdued to human trafficking. Obviously, she would be more affected by this mission then the rest of us. Apart from that, she only just fully realized the real objective of this mission right before we entered the building. She didn't have enough time to digest and understand the implications of it."

"That's no excuse." Danzo answered fiercely. "Shinobi _can't_ afford to question orders, especially if it's because of mere personal feelings. She should've known what her profession required of her. If she acts like that, she is not fit to be a shinobi."

"I understand." Sasuke nodded. "However, and as you know, Sakura is a genius shinobi. She is the strongest chunin after me, her level could be even considered mid-jonin level even at sixteen. There are few people that have such potential and, in my opinion, it would be a waste for her to stop her duties as a shinobi."

"Her behavior will be too much of an issue though." Danzo replied. "Even with all that _potential_ , if she can't follow orders not only will she not be useful – she'll be a _problem_ in the field _._ "

"I'm sure she can learn to deal with her personal feelings."

"You're _sure_?" Danzo questioned. "That kind of person doesn't change, they only get worse. I've seen it throughout my life and I don't doubt that she'll become more rebellious with time."

"I do believe Sakura can learn." Sasuke replied. "I know her, she's smart. She will realize that she's been given a second chance and change."

"Sasuke. I'm only doing this because you're my student – I know you're _smart._ " Danzo narrowed his eyes. "But if something happens, I'll hold _you_ responsible for her."

"Hai." Sasuke nodded. Another question popped in his head. He was slightly anxious to ask, but he needed to know. "Danzo-sama, do you really believe that Haruno Sakura lied in her report about Suna? That she's a traitor?"

"I was testing her." Danzo replied instantly. He was a cautious person, but he knew a conspirator when he saw one. He was quite certain that she was not one. " _Also,_ teaching her where she belongs. She's being too emotional and I _won't_ accept that in the shinobi I command."

"I understand."

"Good." Danzo quickly signed an order for Sakura to be released from the room she was being held in and handed it to Sasuke. "I expect you to have a word with her. For _her_ sake."

The Uchiha took the scroll and nodded his head to Danzo before leaving the room. He decided to immediately head to the room Sakura was being held in; he needed to talk with her. Sasuke was well aware that everything he had said was true. Sakura had great potential and she was smart. She would be able to put her personal feelings aside _any day_ if she wanted to. But _that_ was the key word; wanted to. Sakura was too pushed by her sense of righteousness. She had _always_ cared for other people. Sasuke _knew_ how Sakura thought and worked. And even though he knew that she had the _ability_ to put her feelings aside for missions, he wasn't sure that she would _want_ to.

 **-x-**

Sakura would've been pacing around the room she was being kept in if it hadn't been for the root ANBU that was constantly watching her every move. She was barely managing to keep a calm demeanor, on the brink of losing her mind any minute.

The couple minutes that she'd spent sitting in that room had contradictorily felt like an eternity and like the blink of an eye. On one hand, she couldn't _wait_ to know if Sasuke had managed to talk Danzo down. On the other hand, the time could never be enough to prepare for everything that may happen if things went wrong. What would she do? Would she run away? Would she allow Danzo to interrogate her and risk everything? Would she tell Sasuke the truth?

She couldn't stop blaming herself and everyone else for what had happened. Yes, she had acted on impulse – _again_ – and jeopardized her mission. But Sasuke and Kakashi had also been wrong when hiding such a matter from her. They should've told her about the real objective of their mission. She wondered if they had talked and decided to keep it from her. She felt a pang of disappointment and betrayal at the thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on the door. She straightened herself and watched as the root ANBU stationed there headed to the entrance. When he opened up, Sasuke to entered the room and handed the masked man a scroll. He quickly read through it and nodded at Sasuke, then left.

Sakura was tempted to feel relieved at the fact that the ANBU had left, which probably meant that they were letting her go. However, when she looked at Sasuke's stern face, she wondered if her assumptions were correct. Her gaze lingered on him for a couple of seconds and he knew what she was thinking right away.

"Danzo-sama has decided to grant you a leave and his trust." Sasuke told her and she sighed in relief. Before she could think of anything else, he added. "But you and I need to have a word. _Now._ "

Sakura felt her heart drop and she watched as he reopened the door and nodded towards the hallway. She quietly stood up and walked with him out of the building. It didn't take long for Sakura to figure out where Sasuke was taking her. If he wanted to talk to her privately, he would obviously want to do it at his place like he had on previous occasions. He wasn't the kind of person to have an argument in public.

The journey was quiet and tense. She was aware that Sasuke was upset with her – with good reason too. But she couldn't help the feelings that dwelled inside of her too. She was still agitated by the events that had just conspired, by the fact that she had almost blown everything up. Also, the knowledge that her teammates had lied to her – she _had_ asked them about the mission earlier that day – was making her honestly feel… sad.

She also wondered what Sasuke wanted to talk to her about. Had Danzo really decided to let her go just like that? Was there something else going on? Was Sasuke going to ask her about her secrets? Was he simply going to criticize her about her actions? She threw a couple of glances his way, only to see him staring at the road ahead. His face was tense and his eyes were sharp. However, there was no indication on what was going on in his head.

When they got to the apartment complex, Sasuke quietly lead the way to his floor and door. He opened it silently and allowed Sakura to enter first. She took her shoes off and entered the living room. She was reminded of the day Sasuke had confronted her about her outburst as she left the hospital; the day when she realized Kabuto had gone back in time too. She felt just as conflicted too. Sasuke seemed disturbed as well, just like that day.

The Uchiha silently walked into his living room and stopped in the middle of it. His still form was no more than a meter away from her and his eyes were boring into her own. Sakura swallowed in anticipation, waiting for him to speak. He finally closed his eyes and spoke with barely contained anger.

"What on _earth_ is going through your head?" his opened his eyes and they narrowed at her. "Do you even realize what you _did_? You were almost named as a traitor for speaking up to him that way. I'm not even mentioning your career."

" _God,_ I know." She pressed into her temples with the tips of her fingers. "But, Sasuke. What was I supposed to do? Stay quiet?"

" _Yes._ " Sasuke took a step closer to her and pointed at her. "That's exactly what you were supposed to do. Did you think that _anything_ was going to change just because you spoke your mind to him?"

"I _know._ " Sakura closed her eyes tightly. "I know that nothing would've happened."

"Then _why_ would you do such a thing? It was _reckless_ and _stupid_. You're not a child."

"I can't just sit by as I watch injustice happen! The _least_ I could do was speak my mind. I couldn't just accept what he had ordered us to do! We can't just let him decide such a thing!"

"We are _shinobi_ , Sakura." Sasuke growled and scowled. "It's not up to us to decide what a mission is about. We're only meant to follow orders."

"I don't care!" Sakura snapped. "I don't _give a fuck_ about orders!"

"Are you listening to yourself?!" Sasuke raised his voice and grabbed her arm. "How can you _say_ something like that and expect to be a shinobi?"

"No, Sasuke. That's not the _point_." She took a deep breath in. "The _reason_ I'm a shinobi is because I want to protect people. _We_ could've saved them…"

"No. It was not in our hands, Sakura."

"What are you talking about? We could've done something! We could've helped them escape. We could've sank the ship and told Danzo that we had completed our mission. We could've helped them find a way out and build a life somewhere else. But now…" Sakura chocked on her tears, the memories of the people she'd led to slavery fresh in her mind. "Now it's too late. We can't help them. Who knows where they are now… who knows what kind of atrocities they're going through at this moment."

Sakura closed her eyes tightly, her tears falling freely down her cheeks. Sasuke's hand released her forearm and then she felt skin wiping her tears away. She opened her emerald orbs again to see Sasuke's thumb softly caressing her cheek, his scowl completely gone and his face softer now. He looked into her eyes for a moment and then pressed his lips into a thin line as he sighed.

"I know, Sakura. Don't think for one moment that I feel good about it."

Sakura saw the grief in his eyes and knew that he wasn't lying. But that didn't explain his actions. "Really? Sasuke, you knew all this time about the human trafficking! I… I can't believe it! _How_ could you just let things like that slide? You completed the mission anyways… You knew _._ Damn it. You _knew._ And how could you not tell me? You _knew_ that I would've been against that from the start."

"I _wanted_ to, ok?!" Sasuke retorted. "You think it was easy for me to hide it when you asked? I knew how much it mattered to you and _that's_ why I didn't want you to know."

"What?" her eyes widened. "I can't believe it! You hid it from me because you wanted me to act against my own code of ethics?"

" _Stop_ assuming things." Sasuke clenched his jaw. "I did it because if you knew… you would've suffered. And you still could've done nothing against it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you think that those slaves would've been freed simply by letting them leave?"

"I don't unders-" her words died in her throat. Her mind immediately understood what he was hinting at. "A jutsu?"

"Aa." He tiredly passed a hand through his hair. "A contract signed by blood – and by force, obviously. The slavers are in complete control of those people… if they don't get to the destination they can kill them in a spit second, no matter how far they are."

"I… such a thing exists?"

Sasuke nodded. "Do you understand now? There was _nothing_ we could do for those people, Sakura. To free them we would've had to track the slavers down first _and_ the blood contract too. And that would've required a much bigger amount of manpower. I'm not even getting into how much trouble we would've gotten into if found disobeying orders."

"There was really nothing we could do at the time…" Sakura trailed off. "That also means… that they will probably never be free. They'll be slaves until they die…"

Sasuke saw the disheartened expression on her face and looked down. His eyes darkened at the sight of it. His hand moved to softly close around her own and he stayed quiet for a couple more seconds before speaking again. "Do you understand now why we kept this from you?"

"So Kakashi knew about this too?"

"He was the one who told to me about it while you were gathering firewood." Sasuke explained. "He knew that it was going to upset you and that you might react badly. It seems he was right."

"Honestly, I don't know how I would've reacted if I'd known the whole truth." Sakura looked down at the floor. "I almost screwed things up for myself back there."

"Aa." Sasuke sighed again. "You're lucky that I was there to talk Danzo out of it. He expects you to follow orders from now on. Without complaint." Sasuke eyes Sakura intently, trying to see her reaction to his words.

"Sasuke…" Sakura frowned, knowing that she couldn't make such a promise. "You know I can't do that."

Sasuke bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly. Sakura wondered what he was thinking about, because his face was completely blank. He finally opened his eyes and stared deeply into her own. His obsidian orbs were softer and he seemed almost… understanding. His hand – that was still holding her right one – tightened slightly and he chuckled.

"I know."

"I… I'm sorry." Sakura looked down, feeling slightly distraught about the fact that she wouldn't do as she was told. She knew what was expected of her. But she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she simply completed missions that went against her ethics without question. She looked up at Sasuke, wondering if he was disappointed.

"Don't be sorry." Sasuke answered. His face was blank, but his eyes were intense. "I knew from the very start that this was how it would go."

"Sasuke, I'm really so-"

"Don't." he interrupted her. "I understand how you think and why you do the things you do. Sakura. You're the most principled person I know. Sometimes I wish I was as brave as you, but I'm not."

"You are!" Sakura widened her eyes and felt her cheeks burn at his words.

"Not in that way, but I'm not ashamed by that." Sasuke shook his head. "But don't be sorry for being like that. It's something that I truly value about you."

Sakura had to bite her lip to stop herself from smiling like an idiot. Sasuke – the controlled, stoic, level-headed person she knew – had basically said that he respected her for being a reckless, emotional, rebellious wreck. Who would've thought. Before she could think anything else, he spoke up again.

"You're blushing again." There was a playful smirk on his face.

"Well, you're embarrassing me." Sakura frowned and Sasuke's smirk widened at her excuse, knowing it wasn't true.

"I should be the one to apologize." He stated. It was just like him to indirectly do so.

"Why?" her eyebrow raised in question.

"I… didn't react as well as I should've when we got here." He sighed. "I couldn't afford to lose control while with Danzo, so it was all just delayed until we were inside my apartment."

"You did a good job a masking your uneasiness. I didn't notice it at all."

"Unease doesn't cover it." Sasuke snorted and then he looked down at the floor under his feet. He stayed quiet for a long time. Sakura swore a whole minute passed in which he didn't look up at her and kept a thoughtful expression. He finally looked up at her and there was determination in his eyes. "I was… afraid doesn't cover it either. I was _franctic._ I almost lost my mind back there."

"Sasuke…" Sakura softened her eyes, regretting having put him through that. But she didn't understand. "Why?"

Sasuke chuckled, as if he'd been expecting her to ask that question. His free hand – the other one was _still_ holding on to her fingers – moved upwards and stopped right in between her neck and chin. It softly cupped the side of her jaw and his thumb caressed along her jawline.

"I thought that Danzo would over-react and… decide to do something that hurt you." Sasuke bit his lower lip for a moment. "I can't bear the thought of losing you too."

If Sakura's blush hadn't been noticeable before, it certainly was now. Her whole face flushed crimson and she wanted to cover her face badly, not wanting to be caught like that. But Sasuke's hand was holding her chin up and staring directly into her eyes, so she decided against it. She pressed her lips together and averted her eyes, her heart drumming in her chest. She was honestly scared of asking. Afraid that he would realize what she was thinking and that he would push her away. But she _needed_ to know.

"Why?" by now, her fingers were trembling slightly and, to her dismay, Sasuke's hand was around them.

"Why?" Sasuke repeated her question and his hand tightened around her own. Sakura kept looking away from him and simply nodded, not wanting to speak since her voice would probably fail if she did.

Sasuke's hold on her chin adjusted and he lifted her head slightly, urging her to face him. Her eyes widened as she stared into his eyes. She was a mess, a complete mess. Her hands were trembling, her voice was probably gone by now, and her mind wasn't able to form any coherent thoughts. On the other hand, Sasuke seemed to be in complete control of himself.

He lowered his face and moved a bit closer, until his lips were only a palm away from her, and then he _stopped_. He watched her intently, trying to read her. The hand that was on her chin, moved to her neck slowly and Sakura shivered under his touch. His breath was fanning over her nose and lips, and it was honestly driving her crazy. She knew what was going to happen, and she had a hard time believing it was not a dream.

Sasuke stared at her lips and bit his own, not saying a word, not moving an inch closer. He had already shown what his intentions were, but he wasn't going to act on assumptions alone. Sakura knew that too. She gathered herself – how come this was as hard as doing an S-ranked mission? – and moved closer until her lips were a centimeter away from his.

Before Sakura could dwell anymore on the way his breath and warmth felt to close to her, Sasuke closed the distance between them. His lips were soft against hers, the kiss was tentative and just above a brush on her skin. The hand that was on her neck moved so that it held the back of her head to push her a bit more into the kiss. Sakura raised her free hand and lightly placed it on one side of his face. Sasuke kissed her with a bit more intention on her lower lip, but it was somehow still smooth.

Sakura wasn't feeling all crazy with goose-bumps and butterflies – while there was some of that, yes, it wasn't as much of the hallucinating experience that she had imagined in her early teens – but it still felt incredibly _good._ As her eyes were closed, all that she could _feel_ was his warm hand on the back of her head, his other hand still holding her fingers and his lips on top of hers. His lips weren't incredibly soft – not that she had expected them to be – but they nonetheless felt soft against her own.

In her past life, Sakura had always imagined that Sasuke's kisses would be… strong. She had always known him as a slightly violent and rough person. But this Sasuke was not the one she had known back then. He was the same, but at the same time a different version of himself. He was being so careful with her. She had never really imagined him to be so… gentle. And _god._ That meant so much to her. He had waited until she moved to kiss him too, wanting to be sure that she was willing. He had not – against all odds – pushed her against a wall and taken her without any considerations.

Sasuke slowly pulled back a bit, giving them room to properly breathe. Sakura opened her eyes and stared into his obsidian ones, as they breathed each other's air. She didn't feel uneasy at all, but the overwhelming notion of what had _just happened_ caught up to her and she felt her eyes tear up. She would've beaten herself up for reacting like that in front of him, but she honestly didn't care anymore. Sakura wasn't afraid of him, as in him attacking, mistreating or humiliating her. She smiled at him, realizing that he _thankfully_ wasn't even bothered by her tears. Actually, he didn't even seem to recognize them. Maybe he had always known of her feelings for him and wasn't surprised. Sasuke fully moved away from her, his hand never letting go of hers though, and smirked in amusement.

"It appears that my number one fangirl is back."

Sakura chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Well, you just destroyed the moment."

"What moment?" Sasuke furrowed his brow in fake confusion.

Sakura laughed a bit and then nodded her head at him. "My father's going to be exhilaratedwhen he finds out."

Sasuke's amusement slipped from his face for it to be replaced by slight annoyance. His voice answered with clear irony, but the comfort still remained in his tone. "Aa… I just can't wait for the day."

That day, as Sasuke walked her back home, Sakura realized something. Things between them seemed the same as before. They talked about the same things and the silence between them was just as comfortable too. However, something felt radically different in the atmosphere – or maybe it was just Sakura's impression.

Because she felt that, even though they had been close to each other before, there was a different kind of closeness now. It permeated the way they moved around and looked at the each other. It filled her up in a way that his presence hadn't before.

 **A/N: Hey!**

 **So…. OMG. Finally, right? What did you think about this chapter? I always love your feedback.**

 **Please tell me your opinion on the mission, on how Sakura stood up to Danzo and how Sasuke reacted. What about the Sasusaku conversation? Any thoughts on Kakashi?**

 **Did you like the chapter? Was anyone OOC? Yes? No?**

 **I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Actually, this was supposed to be part of chapter 37… but I had the feeling it was going to turn out to be too long. Thankfully I decided to split it, because otherwise it would've been 15k long LOL.**

 **I want to thank by beta-reader, MonochromeAce for revising this in such a short period of time! She's all busy with the end of her semester, but still managed to do it.**

 **Thank you all for reading and reviewing!**


	39. Family

CHAPTER 39

It had honestly been naive to believe that her taunt back at Danzo's office would be forgotten just like that. Even though there had been no interrogation and no imprisonment, Danzo had not let it slide. He had sent Sakura a memo the next day giving her instructions to ' _cease her shinobi duties for a month, in order to recover emotionally '._

Sakura despised that bastard's hypocrisy; everyone knew that he didn't care about such things, but he had dared to excuse his actions with those arguments. Actually, Sakura was sure that he was killing two birds with one stone. He was not only forcing her to stay back from missions for a month to teach her a lesson and hurt her finances, but he was also being horribly ironic and most likely enjoying it. Danzo was well aware that Sakura _was_ the kind of person who did pay mind to emotional health and he was purposefully mocking her with his statement. It was truly infuriating. She would rather receive a memo that read ' _cease your shinobi activities for a month due to unacceptable behavior'_ and he must've known it.

Sakura had been partly worried that she wouldn't be able to get anything done _yet_ again, but she then remembered Itachi's request. He had asked her to come up with some sort of poison that would affect a massive amount of chakra. It was _not_ going to be easy – it would probably be the hardest thing she ever worked on – and any amount of time she could invest in it would be valuable. So, having Danzo ceasing her shinobi activities might not be as bad as she'd originally thought.

Still, no matter how much she tried to convince herself that she had made the right choice when she decided to drop the subject back at Danzo's office, she still felt like a coward. Sakura was well aware that it wouldn't have made a difference if she'd continued complaining about the mission and Konoha's involvement in human trafficking. She knew it would have landed her in an interrogation and Danzo would find out about her time travel.

Seeing how much pressure Danzo had from the clans, Sakura now suspected that he was keeping Sasuke close so that he would be under his control. Danzo would probably lose whatever little control he had over the situation if Sasuke decided to side against him, while having the support of the Uchiha clan would be invaluable. Then again, Sasuke would achieve such a level of influence only after he officially became the head of the Clan and got married. If Danzo knew how badly the last Uchiha – and the soon-to-be head of the clan – had reacted after he found out about his actions in the past, he would _not_ let it slide. He had been able to wipe out a whole clan once, and definitely wouldn't have trouble killing a single Uchiha threat.

She couldn't even stomach the thought of Danzo getting his claws on Sasuke. Not only would it make it impossible for them to have a chance against Obito if he didn't change his mind. But Sakura wouldn't be able to take it. Sasuke meant so much to her at this point. If she lost him now, she feared that she would definitely break.

On a whole different matter, Sakura had been fearing Kakashi's reaction to her outburst. She had expected to find him at her door the next morning, but he hadn't shown up. She had also not found him anywhere in the village – not that it was an easy thing to do, but she deemed herself quite capable after so many years of knowing her sensei. She's ended up asking Anko and she had informed Sakura that Kakashi had been sent on a mission that morning and probably wouldn't be back for about a month.

Sakura was honestly glad that such a thing had happened. She would rather talk to Kakashi after a couple of weeks so that he wouldn't lash out at her so much. Yes, Sakura was aware that it was a bit of a cowardly thing to think, but still. She was aware that she had messed up, but at the same time she was expecting Kakashi to understand her if given enough time to reflect.

Word had come to Konoha that two Akatsuki members had been killed. The first one she had already known of – Hidan – and the other one was surprising; Kisame. Of course, it made sense that Itachi would take down a member that knew so much about him sooner or later. Everyone in the village was wondering who had dealt with those members, but they had no leads. Which was good. Sakura wasn't sure if it would do any good for it to become public knowledge that Itachi was working against the Akatsuki. Yes, it could turn out well, but it could also make things so much more unpredictable.

 **-x-**

Honestly, after being friends for so long, Sakura didn't know why she had at first imagined things to be different with Sasuke. She had been slightly anxious about what turn their relationship would take after the kiss. However – and thankfully – things were pretty much the same. They would train as usual, eat lunch and talk as usual.

As a thirteen year old, Sakura would've been disappointed. She would've expected him to act differently around her or do chivalrous things to make her happy. But now she knew better. Sasuke was _the_ type of person one would think would not go out of his way for unnecessary pleasantries. He didn't like to waste his time on 'pointless' things, and she could perfectly imagine him complaining about romantic expectations. He wasn't one to intentionally demonstrate affection or friendship.

Quite the opposite; he expressed his interest and care in honest and genuine ways, while remaining private. He was logical, efficient, and modest. He was the kind of person who would do it in small gestures and loyalty. So, Sakura never really expected him to ask her out on dates, bring her flowers or any kind of romantic clichés. Sasuke would _never_ do romantic clichés.

Surprisingly, she wasn't disappointed. Actually, the fact that they were practically the same as before made things so much simpler. It also felt more genuine for Sakura; no one had been faking anything before when they were just friends, and no one was trying hard now either. It all just flowed like it had before and there was no awkwardness.

Nonetheless, there _were_ slight differences. Sasuke was a very private person, so he never truly showed any indications of _anything_ in public. Their routine remained pretty much the same; they would train most days and have lunch most days. But he did make gestures towards her in private; the brush of a hand against her own, an openly kind smile, and sometimes a kiss.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she realized that her mind had drifted off during her training. She has probably been standing there caught in her musings for minutes with a silly smile on her face. She blinked a couple times a looked around, to see that Sasuke was standing not too far and looking at her with slight amusement. When he had stopped his own training and neared her was beyond Sakura. She wondered if he had noticed her absence of mind and smile.

"What?"

"If you keep thinking about me, it'll make you an easy target during missions." His smirked a bit.

"I wasn't!" Sakura denied and felt a blush on her cheeks. How could he read her so easily? "I was thinking about something else entirely. You're pretty self-centered, you know that?"

"Then please, do tell; what had you smiling like that for minutes?"

"Oh, just someone." Sakura shrugged and Sasuke just stared at her. "A _boy._ "

"A boy?"

"Yeah. He's been on my mind for some time." Sakura chuckled.

"Fascinating."

"Yeah. With raven hair and obsidian eyes." Sakura smirked and turned to face him. She lifted her hand a bit over her head. "Around this tall. Fair skin. A strong shinobi."

"Must be smart too." Sasuke added with a poker face settled in his expression, but the teasing was clear in his voice.

Sakura laughed loudly and walked towards him, stopping at arm's length. "He is. You should meet him sometime."

"Maybe." Sasuke drawled out and stared into her eyes.

"I could set up a date." Sakura chuckled. "Oh. I just remembered he doesn't seem to like dates."

"Sounds even better." His face was completely plain and Sakura was yet again impressed by his acting skills.

"You sound like you like him already."

"Hn."

"See? I _did_ say you were self-centered." She poked his chest with her finger. "You should learn some modesty."

"So, you _were_ talking about me." A smirk stretched on Sasuke's face.

"Baka!" Sakura laughed and lightly smacked his arm. "You were planning this all along."

Sasuke's smirk disappeared and he took a step closer until their faces were only a palm away. "How often does that happen?"

" _Never_. You're being pretentious again." Sakura complained, but there was a smile on her lips and she felt a blush appear on her cheeks again.

"Would you rather I stopped?" Sasuke whispered as his eyes bored into her own. It wasn't a _real_ question – she could hear the confidence in his voice – rather a dare to say that she did. Which she didn't; she wouldn't change a thing about him, not even his damned arrogance.

"No…" She trailed off with her mind almost hazy. She still wasn't used to having him so close. His breath fanning over her lips and nose. They didn't kiss much, as they didn't have much free time and they mostly followed their usual routine when they were together. But whenever they did…

Sasuke closed the distance between them and kissed her lower lip. Sakura circled her arms around his neck and leaned into him, deepening the kiss. They kissed for a while like this, until Sasuke's arm sneaked around her waist and brought her flush against him. Sakura felt her body warm up immediately; the feeling of his chest against her breasts and her stomach making her dizzy.

Sasuke hadn't been straightforward when kissing before, his stoic character naturally limiting the how close he related to others. So she had never expected him to pull her against him like that – not at this point at least. Sakura had been wanting do to this since _forever_ ,so she tightened her hold on his neck and pulled him even closer.

Her tongue slipped out and licked his lips teasingly, immediately feeling a smirk form on the lips she was intently kissing. Instead, he welcomed the deeper kiss and allowed his own tongue to explore her. Their tongues swirled around each other in a soft dance, the motion slow and deep. The taste of him was sweet to her and the way he caressed every part of her mouth made her almost whimper in delight. His hand trailed up and down her back, sending shivers down her spine, and she tugged at the hair on the back of his head.

After what seemed like an eternity, but had definitely not been long enough, both pulled apart to regain their breaths. Sakura stared into his obsidian orbs and was shaken when she saw that they were glazed over. The notion that he _wanted_ her as much as she wanted him made her squirm in anticipation. Before she could lean in and devour the teenager in front of her once again, he moved back.

"We should get going." He announced.

"Oh. Right." Sakura cleared her throat as she nodded and then led the way towards her house. It took a while to make the blush disappear – she had _never_ been kissed like that by Sasuke. He had mostly been pretty discreet and controlled when kissing her.

When Sakura told her parents about Sasuke, they had been ecstatic. They had insisted that he have dinner at their place as soon as possible. However, Sasuke had left for a short mission for a few days, and then asked Sakura to delay the dinner for some other time. He was certainly not looking forward to an awkward meeting with her parents. He didn't dislike them at all, but Sasuke feared that Kizashi would make everything awkward with his endless teasing. Still, time passed by and he knew that he had to agree at some point, so they had settled it for tonight.

When they got to her place, Sakura knocked on the door a couple times and the door opened to reveal a smiling Mebuki. She nodded her greeting at Sakura and Sasuke, who quietly greeted her back. She allowed them inside and closed the door behind them. Sasuke was silently thankful that it had been her mother to greet him at the door. However, he knew that talking to Sakura's father was inevitable.

"Sasukeee!" a cheery male voice came from the kitchen and, after a bunch of noise that sounded like thrashing, Kizashi came out through the kitchen door. "Welcome, welcome, welcome!"

"Hn." Sasuke nodded, and he saw Mebuki's eye twitch at the probable mess that had been left in the kitchen. She then shrugged – as if deciding she wasn't going to say anything about it, nor clear whatever mess there was inside – and walked into the dining room.

"We missed you. It's good to have you over for dinner once again. Thank you for coming."

"I should be thanking you."

"Oh, no. Not at all." Kizashi looked at Sakura and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey there, sweety. How was your day?"

"Good. How about you dad?"

"It's getting better now." He beamed. "Oh, where are my manners? Dinner's already served! Come on!"

They all sat down at the table, Sasuke and Sakura next to each other as they faced her parents. Each of them served their own portion of the meal from the bowls that were placed in the middle of the table. Before they even began eating, Kizashi smiled at the young Uchiha.

"So. You two are an item now."

"You know we are, dad." Sakura answered curtly, not wanting him to talk about it too much.

"Oh, yes. I've known for a very long time." He smirked. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his remark. Kizashi eyed Sasuke with a small smirk. "Oh, Sasuke. Don't deny it."

"Deny what?" He said stoically.

"That you've wanted my daughter for a long time."

"Dad!" Sakura complained.

"Oh, it's not a bad thing." Kizashi waved her off. "Do you honestly think that I would've teased you both like that if I hadn't agreed to the idea?"

"Hn." Sasuke simply smirked.

"I actually imagined it would've happened before you even left for Suna."

"I was only fourteen, dad." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Who could've imagined that teenagers as young as you were would have that kind of interest in each other?"

Sasuke's eyes barely showed anything, but he knew she noticed the look he gave her. He would've considered it to be just another joke, but the blush on Sakura's cheeks proved it to be the real thing. Sasuke obviously hadn't harbored that kind of feeling for her all those years ago – right? – and so, he had never expected her to feel that way back then. Just how long had she been interested in him? They'd become friends around a year before she left, so he could only wonder. Had it happened just before she left? Maybe after the chuunin exams? When they first became a team perhaps? Mebuki's strong voice broke him out of his reveries and he looked at her.

"Sasuke, there's something you should know. If there's anything you need, anything _at all_ , you can count on both of us." she smiled and her eyes bored into his own. "We consider you part of the family now."

Sasuke's mind froze for a moment and he felt the air stuck in his throat. His eyes widened involuntarily and he almost chocked on the food he was eating. Thankfully, he avoided an embarrassing scene and managed to get a hold of himself.

He was grateful for her words, he really was. But he didn't know what to think of Mebuki's statement. It had been so long since he last felt a part of a family. The closest thing he had felt to that was Team 7, but Naruto had been gone for two and a half years – and he hadn't heard a damn word from the dobe – while Sakura had just returned from Suna 5 months ago.

Sasuke had barely been 8 when his clan was massacred and, even though he had fond memories of his family, he didn't have a clear idea of what a family really was at this point. He had been on his own for almost 9 years. It had been difficult for him to let other people in, but Team 7 managed to break through his wall. Especially Sakura.

With his whole being, Sasuke wanted a family. But he was well aware of the weight family had in people's lives. In _his_ life. He didn't want to simply call people family, when he didn't really consider them as such. Mebuki and Kizashi were in fact two of the people he was closest to – not that he related with many people anyhow. They had invited him over for dinner dozens of times and he had come to know their place almost as well as his own. He had come to know Sakura's parents quite well and to care for them. But did he consider them _family?_ He didn't think so. But maybe in time he would. The notion made his chest swell with prospect.

Sakura's hand sneaked under the table and squeezed his own. He blinked and looked at her; her eyes were kind and soft and she was smiling widely. He could see how happy she felt – for him. She knew how much her mother's words would mean to him. Sasuke felt a smile form on his lips and turned to Sakura's parents once again, who had been sitting quietly while he digested Mebuki's words.

"Thank you." Sasuke smiled and bowed his head slightly. His bangs covered his eyes, hiding the way his expression almost broke and revealed how moved he really was. Of course, Sasuke had long ago learned how to control his emotions, so he quickly got ahold of himself once again leaned back into the chair.

The rest of the evening went without any events. They mainly talked about light subjects and Kizashi refrained from embarrassing them for a change. When they finished, they all took their dishes into the kitchen and Mebuki asked Sakura for her assistance. Sasuke was about to stand up and offer to help too, but Kizashi interrupted him.

"Sasuke." His voice was unusually quiet and Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that. He looked at Sakura's father questioningly and was surprised at the older man's serious face. "You really care about Sakura, don't you?"

"Aa." Sasuke nodded and realized that, for some ridiculous reason, Kizashi suddenly seemed _almost_ intimidating.

"How much?"

"A lot." Sasuke answered the truth, but he didn't want to talk about his feelings with Kizashi; it would be plain awkward. Kizashi's lip twitched into a small smirk at Sasuke's reluctance to openly speak about his relationship with Sakura.

"I know how most boys think of the opposite sex at your age; I was once like them too. They are reckless, self-centered and mostly disrespectful towards women. I was always wary of what to think when Sakura started dating."

"Kizashi, you know I'm not-"

"I know. You're not like the other boys." Kizashi chuckled a bit. "You've always been more mature then the rest of the kids. When you first came here I was shocked by how much older you acted, but it did make sense considering what you've been through. You're still sixteen, but it feels like I'm talking to a man at least half a decade older than you actually are."

It felt true. Ever since the massacre, Sasuke had always felt different from the other children. And he had felt like the gap had only increased as the years passed by. For some strange reason, only Sakura had seemed different too – even though her life hadn't been like his at all. Sasuke didn't know what to say to Kizashi, so he just remained quiet.

"Sasuke, I trust you and I think you're good for Sakura. I'm really glad that you're together now." Kizashi smiled. Sasuke was a bit shocked at his raw words, but simply nodded. "I don't imagine that I need to tell you to take good care of her, do I?"

"You don't." Sasuke smirked. Kizashi's asking him to look after Sakura wasn't necessary.

 _I already am._

 **-x-**

Danzo was off Sakura's case for now, since she had been removed from missions for weeks now. It was kind of frustrating, but it did give her some peace of mind. Not seeing the bastard's face for a month really was something that she had needed emotionally.

Akatsuki was being dealt with by Itachi. Sakura felt a bit _useless_ in that regard. A bit trapped. She wanted to do something – hell, her real strength was probably near Tsunade's level by now – but she couldn't leave the village without orders. She couldn't simply stalk over to Danzo and tell him what needed to be done. It was truly making her feel like her thirteen year old self. However, having less worries on her mind allowed her to properly work on the poison she'd been developing. It was a slow process, but Sakura felt like she was getting somewhere – then again maybe not; one could never be sure with this kind of thing.

Her family and Sasuke were a constant in her life now. When it came to her parents, Sakura had been an ungrateful brat back in her previous life. She had considered them nagging and bothersome, always asking stuff of her – no wonder Sasuke used to snap at her childish rants about them. Even as she became a chunin in that time she hadn't changed her perspective too much. It was only after the war and after spending two whole years away from them in Suna that she came to fully realize how lucky she was to have them. And she was grateful that they had accepted Sasuke – and Naruto – without a second thought.

It was truly the highlight of her day whenever she met with Sasuke during training or for lunch. The time they spent together, no matter if it was only following their usual routine, made her forget about all her issues and worries. She was at a point in her life where she could _almost_ pretend that this was all her life was about. Sadly, that was far from the truth.

As Sakura sat in her chair in the underground room within the hospital – where she now worked – she laughed bitterly. The real issue in Sakura's life at the moment was _Kabuto._ That sick bastard was the image she saw in her nightmares. And his sick experiments which she had been forced to take a part in that haunted her day and night. Sakura had imagined Kabuto to be the only one responsible for such actions at the hospital, maybe Danzo too. But reality had slapped her in the face, making her question how she viewed her village and the world once again. Her thoughts drifted back to a conversation that she'd had with Tenten and Lee the last time they met a few days ago.

" _We've been hitting a dead end on this subject." Sakura frowned. "How can we even begin to truly gather intel when we cannot gain access to Danzo's archives. Or the clan archives for that matter."_

" _I know." Tenten clenched her jaw. "I was aware this would be hard, but I never imagined that just finding information would be so difficult."_

" _Yeah… and our work doesn't allow us access at all." Lee sighed. "Tenten is not from a clan and hasn't been getting many chances to be near Danzo. And since I'm not capable of using chakra, Danzo has cut my missions to almost zero."_

 _Sakura frowned at Lee. "What? I didn't know about that. How are you getting by?"_

" _I got a part time job in the Financial Department." Lee frowned, his determination shining in his eyes. "It's a boring office job! I can't express my inner youthful spirit while doing such work!"_

 _Tenten rolled her eyes, but Sakura ignored that last comment. Her eyes narrowed and she watched Lee carefully. "You should've said something before."_

" _Why, Sakura-chan?"_

" _Well, the Financial Department is in charge of every non-military transaction that occurs within the village, right?" Lee nodded at her. "It's obvious that any shady business could be found in how they spend their money, right?"_

" _You're right!" Tenten's eyes widened. "Lee, have you stumbled upon something weird within the financial records?"_

" _Well." Lee frowned. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."_

" _Think harder." Tenten pressed. "Any large sums of money paid? Or multiple smaller sums? Something that's out of the ordinary."_

 _Lee shook his head. "Not that I know of."_

" _Donations." Sakura whispered looking at the ground she was sitting on. "What about donations? They're never questioned and they're almost never subject to investigation."_

" _Not that I-" Lee stopped mid-sentence and his eyes widened. "Oh! I remember something a colleague of mine said about many extensive donations."_

" _Provided by whom?"_

" _I don't remember exactly; it was months ago. But I'm sure it was a shinobi Clan of Konoha."_

" _What!" Tenten gaped. "How could you not say anything about it before?"_

" _Well, I didn't think it was relevant." Lee tapped his finger on his chin._

"Why? _" Sakura pressed._

" _The donation was made to our hospital. I didn't think there was anything out of place with that."_

" _Yeah, I guess you're right." Tenten sighed. "That doesn't seem weird at all. Rich people normally donate to such institutions, right?"_

" _No." Sakura interrupted, her mind putting a scenario together already. "I think it might be worth a shot."_

" _I'm not so sure." TenTen frowned. "It's highly probably that the Clans have been donating to the hospital for decades."_

" _Lee, when did the donations start?"_

" _I don't know. I wasn't the one to go through that paperwork."_

" _Well." Sakura narrowed her eyes. "That's one thing that you need to find out."_

Sakura hoped that her fears were misled. She hoped that none of the Konoha Clans had _anything_ to do with Kabuto. If any of the clans was aware of the experimentation going on there… if any were actually _funding_ it… Sakura shuddered at the thought. It was much easier to think that her teammates' families weren't corrupt. That the clans that made Konoha strong weren't corrupt. But she needed to be realistic. She couldn't force herself to remain in blissful ignorance and forget what she was learning.

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts when she felt eyes on her. One of the children she tended to had woken up a couple days ago. That had never happened before; yes they had sometimes stirred or moved a bit in a half conscious state, but they had never been fully _conscious._ The little boy probably was nearing his 6th birthday, and was as innocent as a kid could get. His gray eyes would stare up at Sakura as she tended to all the children and tried to heal their wounds. His dark green eyes would follow her every movement intently. And the worst part of it was that he looked at her as if she was some sort of hero. As if she were truly trying to make them better and _heal_ them for good, instead of extending their suffering for the sake of sick experimentation.

While the time she spent working at the hospital had been tough before, it felt almost like hell now. She felt rotten. She knew that the small kid wanted her to talk to him – he was too weak to move a finger, let alone speak. But she hadn't been able to bring herself to do it. It was a cowardly thing to do – she knew it – but her self-loathing would spike at the mere thought of acting _friendly_ towards a person she was slowly destroying. It felt hypocritical and fake and horrible. And… what would she even tell him? _Hello there, I'm sorry but your suffering is needed so that a sick fuck can gain more power._

Some days she felt like she would snap at any time and yell at the kid, telling him that he was not safe here. _I'm not a hero!_ _Don't trust me like that!_ But then she would regain control of herself and decide that it was better for him to remain in blissful ignorance instead of spending his days in fear of what was being done to him.

One particular afternoon, she was sitting in the underground room in the hospital and trying hard to ignore the kid's eyes. She closed her eyes for a moment and cleared her head of her self-hating thoughts. As she did, she suddenly felt a chakra entering the hospital upstairs; one she hadn't felt in almost a month. She gasped at she recognized it to be Kakashi's, who had been away on a mission. But what surprised her was that his chakra was barely noticeable. In fact, she had never felt his chakra that weak.

Sakura stood up with a start, knocking the chair to the floor, and rushed out of the room. She had planned on simply walking by Kabuto's office and not even ask for permission to go upstairs. However, she noticed that he was standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall and reading some folders.

"Kabuto!" she spoke loudly, despair clear in her voice; now that he was there she knew she couldn't bypass him.

"No." he said without as much a sending a look her way, his eyes never leaving the paperwork he was studying.

"What?" she blinked once.

"You're not going up there. Your work is down here." His voice was calm and detached, and Sakura felt like slapping him. Of course he had also noticed Kakashi's dangerously low chakra.

"He will die if I don't go up there!" she explained hurriedly, but Kabuto didn't move one bit. Of course he knew that only a medic of his or Sakura's caliber would be able to save Kakashi, but he obviously didn't care. "Kabuto, let me go!"

"I said _no._ Have you forgotten your place here?" his eyes darted her way and then narrowed.

"This is ridiculous!" she growled. She took a deep breath in and then exhaled slowly. "I will _not_ stay here and let him die. Either you give me permission to go upstairs now or I go regardless. We know the latter will not turn out good."

Kabuto scowled at the pinkette. Sakura knew that he wanted to show her who was in command; he didn't want her to think there was space for any kind of negotiation. She understood where his reasoning came from, since it was common sense. And honestly, she would probably act less obediently if he didn't act as strict he did.

However, Sakura was not going to let her sensei and longtime friend die because of that. Also, making her and Kabuto's _professional_ relationship turbulent wouldn't work well for both of them. He seemed to come to the same conclusion. His thoughtful scowl soon disappeared and he eyed Sakura intently. Kabuto finally lifted his glasses with one finger, which made the light reflect on the glass and blocked her view of his eyes.

"All right, Sakura-chan." The suffix and his sweet voice made her sick. "But your authorization lasts only until he is stable enough."

"Yes, yes!" Sakura nodded furiously and turned around to race down towards the stairs. Before she could walk further down the hallway, Kabuto spoke again.

"You owe me though."

Sakura disregarded his last statement and rushed upstairs. Her heartbeat was mad in her rib cage as she wondered what would become of her if Kakashi died. Especially when the last words she had said to him had been pretty hurtful before they entered Danzo's office after their last mission. She came into the emergency room just as a couple medic nins were moving Kakashi into a bed. One of them noticed Sakura and his eyes widened.

"Sakura-san?"

"Kabuto sent me here." She announced shortly and rushed towards the silver haired jounin.

She almost lost her mind at the sight of him. Kakashi had clearly lost too much blood, which showed in his almost gray skin complexion. He looked like he was at death's door. His whole body was drenched in blood and Sakura wanted to think that not all of it was his own. He had countless injuries; broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, a small concussion, a cracked vertebrae, a few punctured organs.

She immediately took charge of the rest of the medics and the first thing she did was get Kakashi some blood. Her hands immediately went to heal the damage to his head as she simultaneously tried to aid his body in staying alive. The other medic nins treated the less serious wounds. The procedure demanded multi-tasking and complete concentration.

Sakura swore for a moment that Kakashi wouldn't make it when his heart rate dropped to almost zero. But he pulled through. After almost three hours of having five medics working on him, Sakura included, he was finally stable. Sakura had even helped his body recover more than necessary, her fear clouding her smart choices on how she used her chakra. So she imagined that he would wake up sooner than she might've expected.

They moved Kakashi into an individual room so that he could rest properly. Exhausted, she slumped down on a chair next to her sensei and leaned her forehead down on the bed sheets, sighing deeply. Her hands were shaking at the notion that she had almost lost him. Kakashi was almost like a father to her and she would be damned if he died.

Sakura didn't know how long she remained in that position, trying to regain her calm or maybe even sleep for a moment or two, when she felt him stir slightly. She jolted to a sitting position and her eyes widened; his eyes were open and he was looking right into her eyes. Kakashi wasn't supposed to wake up for at least a couple more hours.

"Sa-" his voice broke at how rough his throat was.

"Don't strain yourself." She said quickly and hurried to get him a glass of water. He gulped it down with almost desperation, yet still forced to drink slowly due to how his throat complained. When he finally leaned back down, he actually looked much better. Sakura almost felt guilty that she was trespassing on his privacy as she looked at his bare face – his mask had been removed while they were treating him. She opened a drawer, retrieved his mask and put it carefully on his face. She smiled. "It's good to see you alive."

Kakashi nodded once and then looked at her with sorrow in his eyes. He finally spoke in a weak voice, but that was deeply serious. "You too."

"What? Me?" Sakura raised her eyebrows, understanding what the sorrowful glint in his eye had been. "Why were you worried about me?"

"The I-Ice Nation." He had trouble speaking, but he seemed to need to talk despite that. Sakura understood what Kakashi was saying. He had left soon after she left Danzo's office after that mission, so he probably hadn't known what exactly had happened afterwards. Sakura imagined that he must've feared many scenarios going wrong after her outburst at the Fifth.

"Sasuke talked to him." She explained, referring to Danzo. "I would've been a goner if he hadn't… and you too. I was reckless and landed both of us in danger. I'm sorry sensei. "

"…Me too." Kakashi's eyes seemed regretful. He must've realized that keeping the truth from her hadn't been the best course of action. He maybe even realized it before seeing Danzo, but it had been too late.

"I know you were trying to do the best you could." Sakura leaned downwards and hugged him softly, careful not to harm him any further. "I don't blame you. I hold most of the blame. But still… don't keep such a thing from me again. Also, I'm sorry for the way I treated you the last time…"

Kakashi nodded once and Sakura sat back down. "What happened, sensei?"

"A-katsuki." He croaked and her eyes widened.

"You encountered members of the Akatsuki? Was it just a pair of them?" she asked and he nodded in confirmation. "You almost died sensei… but we saved you. And don't worry, the rest of your team is alive too. At least none of you died."

Kakashi nodded as if he'd already known about that last fact. He looked up at Sakura and she could see how his eyes crinkled as he smirked. "We won."

Sakura smiled widely and felt as another weight had been lifted off of her. She felt like launching on to her teacher once again, but decided against it. She was about to ask about who the dead Akatsuki members were, but she noticed Kakashi's eyes dropping from exhaustion. She slowly passed her hand through his hair and he immediately fell asleep at the touch. Sakura took one more glance at her teacher and left his room silently.

When she stepped into the hallway, she almost bumped into someone. It was Sasuke. She smiled tiredly at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He didn't say anything and simply held her as his fingers caressed her back in a circular motion. She knew that Sasuke must've already known about it, but she still spoke the news into his shoulder.

"He'll be just fine."

"Hn."

Sakura pulled back a bit, but their embrace never ended. Her eyes locked with his obsidian ones as his breath fanned over her face. "How did you find out he was here?"

"I was near the gates…" Sasuke trailed off and a smirk played on his features. "You won't believe who brought Kakashi to the gates."

Sasuke would've usually told her straight who it was, so she was curious. "Who?"

Before Sasuke could speak again, the door to the bathroom that was attached to the waiting room was unceremoniously opened and someone yelled. Sakura would've normally reprimanded the person for their loudness, or at least glared at their lack of care. But she couldn't bring herself to do either.

"HA! I KNEW IT! I _always_ knew there was something about the two of you!"

Sakura's emerald eyes widened and she sharply turned her head to stare at the person on the bathroom's doorstep. Her blond, loud, obnoxious, loyal, enthusiastic, blue eyed friend. She felt her body freeze at the sight of him there as if she had trouble believing who she was actually seeing.

"Ne, Sakura-chan. I had at least expected a hug." Naruto smiled at her disbelief.

Sakura didn't utter a word, but quickly let go of Sasuke – who must've known what she was going to do and had already released her – and launched herself at Naruto. Her arms circled him in an almost crushing grip and she buried her face into his shoulder. As he hugged her back tightly, she inhaled deeply and let herself be surrounded by the scent of her old friend. Sakura hadn't seen him in almost a year. And _god_ had she missed him.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto chuckled and Sakura felt his voice vibrating through his body. "I might unintentionally steal her from you at this rate."

"As if, idiot." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I missed you so much." Sakura pulled back. "When did you come back?"

"The Ero-sennin and I found Kakashi and his team about an hour away from Konoha." Naruto explained. "So we carried them back."

"They would've died otherwise. It seems it was a dangerous mission… but at least it paid off." Sakura noticed the question on her team mates faces. "They fought the Akatsuki."

"They won, didn't they Sakura-chan?" Naruto beamed. "They must have!"

"She _did_ say it paid off." Sasuke rolled his eyes again.

"They did, Naruto." Sakura couldn't help but smile at her friend's antics, but secretly suspecting that Naruto _had_ caught on. He was smarter then everyone gave him credit for.

"Yes!" Naruto's smile widened.

"I have to go now." Sasuke announced.

"Already? Aren't we grabbing some ramen? I've been dying for some Ichiraku's." Naruto complained with a frown upon his face.

"No." Sasuke shook his head.

"Aww, come on, teme."

"No."

"Why the hell not?" a tick mark appeared on the blonde's head.

"I've had enough after three straight hours of your endless jabbering." Sasuke replied stoically. He then turned to look at Sakura, his eyes softening in a barely noticeable way. "I'll see you around, ok?"

"All right." Sakura smiled, knowing that Sasuke's reason for leaving wasn't true. He always had a tight schedule and he was already three hours behind. She allowed her hand to slide down to his fingers and she felt his thumb run across her palm. "Bye."

Sasuke nodded at her once and left, not sparing Naruto another glance. Sakura silently chuckled at how he still kept his usual detached demeanor around the blonde. She turned to look at her best friend and smiled fondly.

"So, Naruto. My treat at Ichiraku's?"

" _Yessss_! Thank you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto beamed and Sakura couldn't help but feel her heart swell at his happiness. "It's been _so_ long, dattebayo!"

Sakura tried to keep a straight face as she listened to Naruto's bubbly attitude. She felt really conflicted about his return to Konoha. She honestly wanted to be completely and absolutely _happy_ about his return. Part of her was truly glad … but, overall, she still felt conflicted.

Naruto hadn't been called to inform Danzo of his return yet. He seemed enthusiastic about coming back, still ignorant of what had changed. He was oblivious to what was going on in the village. Sakura could only wonder what Naruto would say or do when he started to realize how everything worked now… and she partly reprimanded herself for not sending him another letter. For not convincing him to stay away from Konoha. Because, in all honesty, Sakura was worried for him. She didn't know how Danzo would react to Naruto's return.

But still, all that they could do at this point was wait.

 **A/N: (WARNING, this author note quite long. I still hope you'll read it)**

 **OK. So, I** _ **really**_ **took a long time in this update; twice as long or maybe even more. I don't know if any of you noticed, but for some reason I still feel like I owe you an explanation. If you aren't interested in a stranger's private life, by all means, skip the next paragraph.**

 **As some of you know, I'm a mom and we have our own family to look after. So, this past month there was my son's 3rd birthday and Christmas (jeez, so much work for us). I'm also a freelance architect –** _ **freelance**_ **, so I'm kinda still a stay at home mom since my boy stays with me most of the time – and I'm currently also designing a house and was a bit behind schedule. ALSO, my BF's father had a heart stroke and is currently waiting for another heart… AND my grandmother was hospitalized. Public health in my country sucks, so my mom and I had to take turns in staying there with my grandma for weeks. In the end she passed away, so there was finding a church for the funeral and all the damned paperwork, apart from the emotional strain… So, as you can imagine we've had a hell of a busy month. Still, sometimes writing at night helped me get my mind off all of that.**

 **So, about the chapter…**

 **NARUTO IS BACK! Yay! Do you have any guesses about what will happen now? How will Danzo react to having Naruto back? Do you think he will be ridiculous? Measured? A jackass - as usual? How will** _ **Naruto**_ **react once he realizes what is going on?**

 **What did you think about Sasuke and Sakura's relationship? The dinner with her parents?**

 **What about a Clan being involved with Kabuto? Things are getting messy, aren't they?**

 **Did another detail get your attention? – I don't wanna spoil anything, so I won't say anymore.**

 **I've also noticed that some of you are conflicted about how Sakura reacted when she faced Danzo after her unethical mission. Some of you think she was emotionally driven and that she shouldn't have said anything. Others complain that she was kind of a coward and that she should've talked back to him and said the whole truth and killed him.**

 **Well, YES. Both of you are right. Because Sakura is currently in a difficult situation and she's** _ **obviously**_ **conflicted. Just think about how anyone would react if they realized that their government was doing something unethical (I don't think it's an unlikely scenario at all) and that they would be risking their life and the life's of their loved ones if they spoke up (now imagine that Danzo is your president too, oops). And at the same time, you would be contributing to whatever deed is being done if you stayed quiet. Well, now you can picture how she feels.**

 **Don't worry though, Sakura will get there soon. She will get her shit together and she will find the strength to do the right thing. (Again, what is the right thing to do?)**

 **As usual, my beta reader – MonochromeAce – was great** _ **and**_ **quick when revising the chapter.**

 **Finally, I want to thank everyone that's been reading so far. And everyone that's been reviewing! It really means a lot to know that I have your support and I always count on your feedback.**


	40. The right thing to do

**CHAPTER 40**

"It's been such a long time!" Naruto beamed sitting at Sasuke's dining table. "The last time we had dinner at this place as a team was… during the chunin exams, right?"

"Yeah." Sakura nodded. "We should've gathered here as soon as you came back though. I mean, it's been two weeks already."

"Nah." Naruto shrugged. "Ichiraku was _first_ in line. Sasuke-teme's house would _never_ beat Ichiraku's ramen stand."

"Idiot." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous that I prefer it over your shady apartment." Naruto smirked.

"It _doesn't_ matter." Sakura sighed. "Honestly, ever since you came back all you've done is try to upset Sasuke."

"Since _forever._ " Sasuke noted.

"Well, I can't really help it." the blonde smirked. "Sasuke has always had a stick up his ass and it's funny to see how much I can push his buttons before he snaps."

Sasuke rolled his eyes again. "And _that's_ why you're an idiot."

Naruto promptly ignored the raven haired teenager. "That's also why I keep on wondering, how a girl like _you_ ,Sakura – smart, kind, honest" he winked at her. "- ended up with a guy like _him_."

"The real mystery is how come the _Hyuuga_ girl ever noticed you." Sasuke smirked.

"What?" Naruto's face flushed. "There's nothing between us!"

" _Yet._ " Sakura smiled. "You _have_ been meeting her like… almost every day."

"We're just friends." Naruto's blush was still in place. He shook his head and then looked at her. "But honestly, how did it happen?"

"It just… sorta happened." Sakura answered, not wanting to explain her outburst in Danzo's office. Sasuke didn't even look away from his empty plate.

"Sorta happened." Naruto deadpanned and rolled his eyes. "I have a good guess though."

"Hm? What is it?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's pretty obvious to me. Sakura wasn't able to keep her perverted self under control anymore and jumped Sasuke."

"Baka!" Sakura slapped him on the shoulder playfully. "I'm _not_ a pervert."

"Oh, come _on_." Naruto snorted. "I assume Sasuke has already figured you out."

Sasuke merely lifted an eyebrow and curiously eyed Sakura, his finished meal no longer keeping his attention. Naruto noticed this and gaped.

"No way." His eyes traveled back a forth between his two friends. "Do you mean… Sakura hasn't jumped you yet?"

"Naruto…" Sakura's eye twitched.

"I mean, with the way she _looked_ at you back then I had assumed that she would've already jumped your bones or something."

"She hasn't." Sasuke explained shortly. Sakura wasn't sure if he wanted Naruto to shut up or if he was actually hinting at something. Maybe he had expected her to?

"Well, she'll do it sooner or later." Naruto shrugged. "After all, Sasuke is a stuck-up bastard and he would never even attempt to take the initiative. _However_. Teme, if you ever need some advice… well, I don't particularly have _experience_ , but I've learnt a lot while travelling with the Ero-senin."

Sasuke snorted. "I don't need sexual advice from _you_ , moron."

"Naruto, I know what you're trying to do." Sakura sighed and the blonde looked at her with a huge smile. "You only want more material to bully Sasuke."

Naruto gasped and faked a hurt expression. "Not _bully_! It's for defense. _Defense_! If I don't have anything against him then he'll never leave me alone!"

"Yeah, he must _obviously_ spend all his time finding ways to upset you."

"Well, he only acts like a goody-two shoes in front of you." Naruto waved Sakura off and then adopted a thoughtful expression. "Maybe it _was_ Sasuke who jumped _you_ , after all."

"Jeez, Naruto." Sakura rubbed her temples. "Just… talk about something else, will you?"

"Hm…" Naruto thought about it for a while. "Well, I've already told you about many of my travels and everything I've seen."

"Well, have you _concluded_ something from your travels?" Sasuke stressed the word, trying to show that he doubted Naruto was capable of that. Maybe he _did_ bully Naruto, after all.

"Yeah." He nodded, ignoring Sasuke's taunt. "You know how I've seen so much poverty? I didn't imagine there was so much horrible stuff going on outside the village. Konoha is really well off compared to other places. I mean, the worst thing that can happen to anyone in here is like… having un-paid bills or not having enough money to buy better clothing, right?"

"Yeah." Sakura nodded. She faintly remembered how much poverty she had seen when the Juubi was wreaking havoc and she'd been forced to travel to small villages that were generally of no concern to shinobi or shinobi villages.

"Well." Naruto beamed once again and his thumb pointed at his chest. "Once I'm Hokage I will do something about it!"

"That's… quite noble." Sakura smiled. "You've always had a huge heart, Naruto."

"Actually." Naruto looked down for a moment. "When I became genin I wanted to become Hokage so I could prove myself to the rest of the village. I didn't really want the position to do something _good._ It was more of a personal agenda. You remember that, don't ya?"

"Yeah…" Sakura smiled. "But your good heart grew, didn't it?"

"I guess you're right." Naruto smiled at her. "You always see the good in me, Sakura-chan."

"That's what friends are for, aren't they?"

"Well, the teme has never said a good thing about me." Naruto pointedly looked at the Uchiha. "I guess he's too shy to admit that I'm _so_ great."

"You never _asked_." Sasuke remarked.

"Well, I'll ask now. What good do you see in me?" he asked, but Sasuke simply stared back. Naruto sighed. "Maybe I'll start. I have to admit that you're a responsible and hard-working person. You're also loyal to your people. I mean, not anyone would simply dedicate their life to their family like that."

Sasuke's seemed speechless, but Sakura spoke with a smile. "I always knew you guys could-"

"You're still a stuck up bastard though." Naruto interrupted her and snickered. "Come on teme, your turn."

Sasuke's face was blank as he seemed to think about it for a while. He finally spoke with a tiny smirk. "There's nothing."

"What's that?!" Naruto yelled.

"There must be _something_ , Sasuke." Sakura pushed. She had never seen Sasuke say something good about Naruto.

"I guess you're optimistic." Sasuke admitted with a sigh, but then his eyes glinted. "Thinking that you'll actually become Hokage…"

"I'll show you!" Naruto pointed at the Uchiha. "I'll become Hokage _and_ I'll make this world a better place! I'll also make this village a better place!"

Sakura felt a pang in her heart at Naruto's words. What will he think when he finds out that things were not what they seem? What if everything she fears is true and that the position of Hokage is not what she'd thought it was? Would Naruto snap? Would he decide not to be Hokage anymore? Would he still want to? Even worse… had Naruto already realized that there was something off with Konoha? She _needed_ to know.

"This village already seems to be all right." Sakura noted. "You said it yourself."

"Well, yeah I did." Naruto was silent for a while. "It's so much better off than other places… but still. I dunno… there's something _off_."

"Something off?" Sakura asked with a voice a straight as possible. Naruto was sharper and more mature, even when he had never been truly clueless or stupid in the first place. He probably didn't know anything about Danzo or the root ANBU, but his instincts were good.

"Yeah." Naruto trailed off. "When I met the Hokage he mentioned that I wasn't allowed to leave the village for now, because he needed to sort out the Akatsuki first."

"Well, it actually makes sense. You know that they're after you. _And_ he only said it would be for a while." Sakura tried to put him off that trail. However, it wouldn't be over the edge to imagine that Danzo didn't really want Naruto out of Konoha _ever_. He wouldn't risk losing the Kyuubi and get into in an unfavorable position against other villages. Most villages were very protective about their Jinchurikis.

"Still. I feels like there's something off about the village, but I can't really pinpoint what it is. There was also something about him… Danzo."

"He just has a different personality." Sasuke interjected immediately. It seemed that Sasuke was also wary of Naruto finding out about Danzo's shady ways. Sakura didn't blame him.

"Probably another stuck up bastard, just like you. Like teacher, like student, huh?"

"Well, maybe that applies to you too." Sasuke taunted. "Jiraiya must've rubbed off on you. Maybe you'll end up writing smut someday."

"Maybe." Naruto smirked. "I might've learned a thing or two from him."

"Don't tell me about it." Sakura groaned.

"Too bad you won't get to practice anytime soon." Sasuke smirked. Sakura realized that Sasuke was talking more than usual in order to prevent Naruto from asking more questions about the village's status.

"You think that I won't get any practice, huh?" Naruto was about to say something else, but then gasped with wide blue eyes. "Hinata! I gotta go find her!"

"What?" Sakura's eyebrow twitched. "You want to practice with Hinata _now_?"

"No, no!" Naruto waved his hands in denial. "I was supposed to meet her today! _Damn_! Quick, what time is it?!"

Sakura wouldn't put it past Naruto to go around without a watch. "It's three o'clock."

"I knew it! I'm running late!" Naruto stood up and rushed to the door. "Bye!"

As soon as the door closed behind him, Sasuke groaned. "The dobe didn't help with the dishes."

"Neither with the cooking." Sakura sighed.

"Tch. He probably would've burnt the food or broken my stuff anyways."

Sakura laughed and they both took the dishes to the kitchen. As Sasuke washed and Sakura dried, the silence stretched for a while. Sakura's mind drifted to the conversation they'd shared with Naruto minutes ago. She should've known that Naruto was going to notice something different about the village. Actually, she _had_ feared that, but had somehow forgotten to convince him once more to keep on travelling.

"I'm worried too." Sasuke admitted, to even Sakura's surprise, and passed her another wet plate.

"I… I tried to convince him to stay away from the village in a letter a couple months ago." Sakura sighed. "I should've done so again. I didn't think he'd return this soon."

"Hn."

"Do you think Danzo will put up with Naruto?"

"The question is, will Naruto put up with Danzo?" his hands washed the remaining detergent from the pot. "That idiot is even more reckless than you are. Unlike you, he doesn't listen to reason."

"Sasuke…" Sakura bit her lip. "Naruto is already suspecting that there's something weird happening. Even though he's smart – I _know_ you state otherwise – and won't go around asking anybody about it, I fear he will find out eventually."

"He will."

"What do you think will happen when he does?" Sakura started putting the stuff away. "I want to think that maybe his time away has granted him some tactical thinking…"

"Hopefully." Sasuke opened another drawer. "It appears that Jiraiya has known Danzo for a long time. I doubt he would've let Naruto come back without teaching him _some_ reasoning."

"Yeah… It's too bad that Jiraya left as soon as Naruto walked through the gates. He would've been a good anchor for Naruto."

"He said he had something to do out of the village. But I doubt that's the case."

"What do you think was the reason?"

"He must not agree with Danzo or maybe he has some unfinished business with him. It wouldn't make sense for him to leave without reporting to his Hokage first."

"It might be the former." Sakura explained. "He was always really close to the Third."

"Well, the third _did_ apoint Danzo as his successor."

"Maybe… he didn't have a choice." Sakura thought out loud. Sasuke looked at her inquiringly and she swallowed thickly, realizing that she shouldn't have said that. "I mean, there are not many candidates that have the experience and the strength to be Hokage. Even if he didn't agree with his way of thinking, maybe he realized that there was no one better."

Sasuke simple 'hmed' in response and she had to suppress the sigh of relief. For the past few weeks Sakura had been feeling conflicted about telling Sasuke the truth. She believed he was more level-headed than before; he acted like a mature, responsible and reasonable person. However, she had seen how he reacted in front of Itachi before. Sasuke's reactions became erratic when it came to the massacre of his clan. She had been wondering how he would react if she told him the truth? He would probably react in a calmer manner than in her previous life, but that wasn't much of a reassurance. Sasuke had been crazed with hate back then and had been planning to kill _everyone_.

Then again, Sakura couldn't simply go ahead and tell him everything, because how would she even explain how she got that intel? She couldn't just tell him about her time travel, right? Because if she did, how could she be sure that Sasuke wouldn't react impulsively and get caught? Then everything would go badly.

Sakura had come to the conclusion that Sasuke _needed_ to know the truth though. She _would_ tell him and she would make sure that he took the truth well and didn't go on a killing spree. However, she would make sure to have evidence, so that Sasuke could be appeased and she could convince him to take the matter to the law. In the meantime, she didn't want him to know yet. It made her feel incredibly guilty – Sasuke _really_ deserved to know after what he'd been through, after all the trust he had put in her – but she still didn't want to risk it. She didn't want to risk his life, nor her own or Kakashi's.

"Sakura." She almost jumped when she heard Sasuke's voice right behind her.

"Hm?" She looked over her shoulder and saw that the Uchiha was looking at her with unconcealed amusement.

"What was the dobe blabbing about?"

"Huh?"

"How you're such a pervert." A small teasing smirk appeared on his face. "How he's surprised you haven't _jumped_ me by now."

"Ugh. Don't listen to that nonsense." Sakura shrugged.

"Is it true?" his voice became low and Sakura felt her heart skip a beat.

"Uh…" she trailed off as red tinted her cheeks. She looked ahead and away from him, trying to conceal her blush. "Maybe a bit, but he was embellishing a lot of it."

"How true is it then?" Sasuke was visibly having a blast making her uneasy.

Sakura swallowed thickly. What did he even want her to say? Sakura didn't know what he _expected_ , but she sure as hell knew what he was doing. He was trying to make her uncomfortable and tease her; she could _hear_ it in his voice. She could picture his real intention written all over his face, even though she wasn't even looking at him. Two could play that game, and Sakura had the advantage of being older – mentally that is. She silently walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, smirking playfully when she heard Sasuke's footsteps behind her.

"Hmm… how much?" Sakura drawled out and stopped in the middle of the room, turning around to face him. "Maybe…"

She stepped towards him.

"You."

She closed the distance between them and her body was brushing his.

"Should."

Her hand touched his chest softly and she leaned into his ear to whisper.

" _Find out._ "

Sasuke tensed visibly and she almost felt bad for teasing him like that. He wasn't one to openly touch anybody or express feelings and she didn't like teasing him about it. She didn't want to pressure him, even though he had been the one to initiate the whole thing. Yes, he had probably meant it as a joke or plain teasing. But… _But._ A small – _ahem,_ maybe not that small – part of her wanted Sasuke to act upon her words. She had been wanting Sasuke to be more physical for a long time, and kissing was no longer enough for her. Hell, it had never been enough. She was actually _twenty-two_ for fuck's sake.

Just when she thought that he was going to turn around and walk away or stop her, Sasuke's hands shot up and caught her waist. She didn't have time to even gasp in surprise before he pushed her back the few steps that were separating them from the wall. Before her back leaned against it, Sasuke turned her around in one swift motion and pressed his body into her back.

"Maybe I _should_." His voice was low and his breath tickled hear ear.

The contrast between his warm body and the coldness of the wall against her front made her shiver noticeably. The feel of his chest against her back was all she could think of. Her heartbeat raced at Sasuke's closeness and at the husky tone of his voice.

"Tell me, _Sakura._ " His chest vibrated against her back and his lips brushed the skin of her neck. "Do you think of me of when you're alone?"

"You know I do." Her voice was surprisingly steady, but it held an edge nonetheless.

"Let me rephrase that." His lips moved along the line of her neck. "Do you think of me _at night_?"

"I… ugh…" Sakura swallowed with some nervousness, but wasn't ashamed to admit it nonetheless. "Yes _._ "

She _knew_ Sasuke smirked at the admission even though she wasn't looking at him. His breath tickled the back of her ear as he spoke again. "What is it that I do in your mind?"

"You would like to know, wouldn't you?" she teased him.

Sasuke left open mouthed kisses on one of her shoulders and then moved to the other one. The musky scent of him – the one she knew all too well by now – was all around her and she felt almost high on it. Her mind was solely focused on _him._ On his scent, on his voice, on his body, on his lips, on his _presence._

" _Yes._ " Sasuke whispered into her ear. "I _would_ like to know."

"Why is that?" her voice was no longer steady. Hell, she was surprised that she even managed to keep it in check that long. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she still hadn't looked at him, into his eyes. If she had, she would've become a mess right away.

"Simple." His hand trailed down her side up and down, until he finally gripped her hips in a tight hold. "So I can make it happen."

His wet tongue licked down her neck to her shoulders. When the hotness of the muscle moved away from a spot, the moisture on her skin would feel cold against the air. It was a crazy sensation and Sakura shivered at the feel of it.

When Sakura decided that it wasn't enough, her hands slipped from the wall and held the hands on her hips. She slowly unclasped his fingers from her body and turned around to face him. His eyes obsidian eyes bored into her emerald ones and the intensity in them made her body warm up. She smirked at the knowledge that Sasuke felt this way about _her_ and caressed his chest, feeling his defined abs through his shirt.

"In my mind, you do _many_ things that I like…" Sakura spoke lowly. "But you'll have to find out what those are yourself."

Sasuke held her gaze for another moment and then crashed his lips on her own, with a force that he hadn't used before. Sakura's hands brought him closer by the back of his head and he held her waist tightly. She sucked on his lower lip and he let out a barely audible groan. Before she knew what was happening, their tongues had engaged in a war. His tongue was hot, sweet and smooth against her own and she almost moaned at how good it felt.

Sooner than later, Sasuke's lips left hers and he started sucking and licking down her neck in a frantic daze. His hands were touching her back, her arms, her shoulders, her thighs. Sakura's hands gripped his back, her fingers digging into the flesh in an attempt to bring him closer. Their lips met again and they once more engaged into a heated kiss.

As she felt him engaging her with such desperation, she felt the _urgency_ to feel his skin and moved her hands under his shirt. She embedded the warmth of his chest and back deep into her mind, trying hard to concentrate on how he felt despite the swirl of feelings that his own hands and lips were provoking on her. One of his hands caressed her breast through her shirt and started drawing circles. Her body immediately reacted and she could feel the goosebumps covering all of her body.

"Hmm…" Sakura moaned when he rubbed the nipple that was now erect from his touch.

Sasuke cupped her other breast and sucked hard on the pulse on her neck, making her gasp. That would definitely leave a mark on her skin, and she was more than willing to let him do so. When he moved back to kiss her again, Sakura pushed his hands away from her body and his eyes widened in the midst of the stupor. Sakura pulled his shirt up before he could even think about what was going on. The shirt was forgotten on the floor as he kissed her again, his eyes glazed with desire.

Shinobi were well toned. Yes _._ But Sasuke… there was something else about him. He didn't have as many muscles as other shinobi; he was a lightweight – hence his speed – but he drove her crazy. She wasn't sure if she was so attracted to him because of his build or because it was _him._ Whatever the case, she _needed_ to feel him and moved her open palms all over him. The muscles of his shoulders, his upper chest, his abs, his back.

It appeared that Sasuke wasn't satisfied with his side of the bargain, because he moved back to lift her dress. However, he did it in an unbearably _slow_ manner. His eyes never left her own as he did; obsidian bored into her very soul, as if he could _see_ all of her thoughts and feelings through them. As the dress went up, his fingers caressed her thighs, her hips – where he stopped for a moment – her belly and her covered breasts. Sakura then lifted her arms so he could take it off, but instead of mindlessly throwing it to the floor, Sasuke released it gradually until it slipped form his fingers.

His eyes left her face and drank in the sight of her half-dressed state, with only her short black leggings and her plain sports bra. She didn't squirm under his gaze like she had sometimes imagined she would. Instead, she drank in his every reaction as his eyes roamed over her body. He wasn't reacting _now_ , but she could see the barely contained craving in his expression. His eyes were half lidded and his lips were slightly parted; she had never seen Sasuke look so unguardedbefore.

When he finally met her eyes again, she decided that she'd had enough space and pulled him to her again. And it was amazing. The feeling of his skin against her own, its warmth and softness. They met again in a heated kiss, which she couldn't fathom could become any hungrier. It was almost clumsy in their frenzy. Her lips were almost bruising from the kissing – as his probably were – but it didn't matter; all she cared about was his body against her own. His knee was now in between her legs and pushing her further into the wall.

By now, the heat had pooled in between Sakura's legs far more than it ever had before. The need to feel something against her core was almost overpowering and she had to suppress the urge to rub herself against his thigh. She could also feel him rock-hard again her hip, which meant that she wasn't the only one that was aroused this much.

Sakura pushed Sasuke back a bit, but no more than was needed for her arms to move freely. As her eyes held his gaze, her hand moved down his chest. Down his abs, down his hips, and brushed his hard-on. Sasuke groaned at that, but his glazed eyes never moved from her own. He didn't seem fazed _at all_ , but he seemed to be caught in a trance.

Sakura's hand closed around him, over his black ninja pants, and then leaned her forehead against his. Sasuke leaned on her too and closed his eyes at the feel of her hand on him. She clasped her other hand on his hip and slowly moved him closer and downwards. Sasuke complied, not opening his eyes, and followed her lead. When his groin pressed between her legs, Sakura groaned in anticipation.

" _Sasuke…_ " her voice was barely above a whisper, but the need to have him was clear in her tone.

However, Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he froze in front of her. Sakura watched him intently, wondering if there was something wrong, as she refrained from rocking her hips against him. He stared into her eyes as if a sudden realization had hit him, as if he hadn't really fully noticed how far they'd gotten until that moment. Sakura realized what was going on in his head; he was pretty shocked.

She released his member and wrapped her arms around his lower back bringing him closer to her. The movement caused the lower parts of their bodies to rub and both gasped at the feel. Sasuke forced his eyes away from Sakura and tried to move backwards to put some distance between them, but Sakura hugged him closer and buried her head into his neck.

"There's nothing wrong with this, Sasuke." She said into his ear, wanting to feel him close.

" _Sakura._ " His voice was coated with lust, but there was a clear warning in there. "Let go."

Sakura bit her lip, but complied anyways. She watched as he took a couple steps back and locked eyes with her again. There was disbelief written all over his face and he looked at the floor between them. Sakura frowned, not understanding why he was reacting like that.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't believe I lost control like that." Sasuke mumbled more to himself than to her.

"Do you always have to be in control?"

"Sakura, _just… stop_." Sasuke sighed and run his fingers through his hair in frustration. "We'll talk later."

Without another word, Sasuke turned around and disappeared into the bathroom. The door echoed through the small hallways and into the living room.

Sakura didn't understand. She didn't think that he was _afraid_ of sex, but then why had he stopped? He had clearly wanted it as much as she had, if his reactions were any indication. Sasuke had always been the kind of man that always got what he wanted. He never skipped around the bush and always said things straight on, without any remorse. She had a feeling that his reaction wasn't something she wouldn't expect, but she still couldn't put her finger on it.

She faintly noticed that they had been going all out in his living room and that the curtains were fully open for the world to see. Sakura felt a blush creep up her cheeks and wondered if anyone had _in fact_ seen them. It would be completely embarrassing and she wondered if Sasuke had noticed too.

When she heard the door of the bathroom open, Sasuke emerged with a much cooler demeanor. His eyes locked with hers and then he motioned to the bathroom with a raised eyebrow. He was silently asking if she needed to finish her business before they talked. He wasn't far from the truth. Her body was sensitive and she was longing for him, more than she had ever wanted anything in that department. If Sasuke wanted to speak about something serious – it definitely seemed that way – she would have to… take care of her mind-numbing arousal.

Despite everything that had been going on, Sakura blushed and nodded in agreement. Silently entering his bathroom and wondering when he had become so… blunt. He had actually offered her to relieve herself before talking to him as if he had been offering a cup of tea. Even though she had no sexual experience, she was quite old by now – _twenty-two_ for fuck's sake – but she was still baffled by how naturally he had regarded the subject.

When she finished there, she left the bathroom and walked into the hallway. Sasuke was sitting on the couch with a thoughtful expression. He didn't really acknowledge her presence as she neared him and sat down. The silence stretched for another moment and they didn't move, until Sakura decided to look at him. His expression was quite laid-back, but she knew him well enough to realize that he was a bit troubled; slightly squinted eyes, rigid shoulders, eyes lost in the distance.

"… what happened?" Sakura finally asked.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." Sasuke sighed.

"Why?" Sakura frowned. "I don't understand. Why wouldn't you want to? I thought…"

Sasuke noticed the doubt in her voice. "It's not that I don't _want_ to, Sakura."

"Then what is it?"

"I am not as free as the rest of you are, Sakura." She almost laughed at the irony – she wished she was as free as he imagined. "I am part of a traditional clan. There are some rules that apply to every member, and there are rules that apply to the heir."

"And pre-marital sex is against one of those rules?" Sakura immediately connected the dots.

"Aa." Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment. "It's not that I don't _want_ to, because I do. You damn well know that I was losing my mind back there, right?"

"I guess…" a flash of his glazed eyes passed through her mind.

"The only person who the head of the clan is allowed to share his bed with, is his wife. No one else. It's not just a matter of safety in case of pregnancy, but also a matter of honor."

"I can get pregnancy… but honor?" Sakura frowned. "I think enough time has gone by and people are mostly past those ideas."

Sasuke nodded, agreeing. "It's mostly old-fashioned thinking and maybe one day, when I have enough experience, I'll change those customs if I still deem them unnecessary."

"But you will abide by those laws until then."

Sasuke nodded. "I will _not_ disrespect my clan like that after everything that's happened."

Sakura's eyes softened at how troubled he sounded. Sasuke took a deep breath in and exhaled softly.

"They were my family and everything to me. You can't understand how clan members feel about their clans." He clenched his fists. " _Itachi_ had been the greatest prodigy in our clan in _decades_. And one day he just… killed everybody. And _then_ he had the audacity of joining the Akatsuki. He stained the Uchiha name like no one had done before."

"It sounds… strange. Haven't you tried to look into what his reasons were?" Sakura knew she had sworn Itachi that she would keep Sasuke in the dark about Danzo and the massacre. She had also decided herself to not let him know until she had something to go on in case he decided to act at that moment. But she couldn't stop herself from hinting at it; Sasuke was suffering so much from what thought was the truth.

"Who _cares_ what his reasons were." Sasuke almost growled. "I don't care who he used to be or why he did it. I won't let such a crime pass unpunished and I will make it right with my own hands and in my own way."

"Ah…" Sakura nodded once in understanding, but her she was inwardly troubled. If that's what he still thought about Itachi, then _how_ would he react if he found out about Danzo? Also, she was now aware that there was more to it than just Danzo. There was a high chance that the council _and_ at least a few clan heads would demand his head if he straight out killed him. Sakura felt more confident in her decision of telling him when she had enough evidence.

"A long time ago I swore that I _would_ bring honor to my clan again, no matter what it takes." Sasuke explained. "And that also applies to the way I live. I'm sorry that you're being pulled into this by addition."

"Well, I won't say that I'm particularly happy about _that_ rule." Sakura smiled softly. "But that's not what really matters to me."

Sasuke smiled, really smiled in a way that it fully reaches his dark eyes. "I know."

They had never really spoken out loud about their feelings, but Sakura knew that the both of them really cared about each other. She knew by the way they respected and looked up to each other. How both spent whatever time they could spare together. How they were both a certainty and a constant in the other's lives. To her, Sasuke was as much of a friend as Naruto was, but there was also so much more to them than friendship.

If there was something that she would hold on with everything in this life, it was Sasuke. If there was someone that made everything that she had to endure all right, it was Sasuke. If there was someone that she now truly trusted with her life – something that had never happened in her past life – it was Sasuke.

She could see that what they had was real. And she was deeply grateful for all.

 **-x-**

Death was usually something that caused grief if it happened to someone you love. People who harbor deep hate felt pleased and accomplished when the person they hated died. But sometimes, death was a relief. And that was exactly what part of Sakura felt at the moment.

The child that had been awake in Kabuto's lab had died. She hadn't even been present at the time, but she knew that it had been a peaceful death during sleep due to a systemic failure. The young kid had been in so much pain and had been playing a part in Kabuto's twisted plans. He'd had _no one_ , he had lived in that room for years surrounded by hospital machines and other vegetable children. He had barely been awake and was only conscious to feel pain and be alone. Sakura felt a bit relieved that he had died, because he no longer had to suffer.

If only that knowledge would grant _her_ some peace of mind. She had just sat there and watched everything happen. She had just allowed the horrible things to go on… she had even played a part in all of it. She blamed herself for the child's suffering. He could've lead a much happier life if a family had adopted him. Even an orphanage would be a much better choice than that living hell he had been kept in.

But it was her _job_. It was something that needed to be done for the greater good. Right?

Right?

Sakura had always been aware what being a shinobi demanded of her. She was supposed to do whatever it took to complete her mission. She had always been unconsciously against killing, even when it was an enemy shinobi from another village. Her hands were stained with the blood of shinobi that were just like her – doing what they deemed was best for their homes – and the blood of other people that she now wondered if they really deserved to die. Yes, there had been some twisted bastards' blood in there too, but she had never stopped wondering about them. Sasuke had been a cruel person in her pervious life, but he had been so lost. So alone. Sasori was another example. Were they plain evil? She didn't feel fit to be a judge at this point.

Sakura wasn't that young anymore. She had come to stop believing in fairy tales about good and evil and had crashed into a gray scale, no more black and white. Yes, there were some pretty fucked up people out there. But most of them were just like she was. When she killed someone because _she_ was a shinobi, a soldier, did she do it because it was the _right_ thing to do? Or was it just because it would simply benefit her village? Would it even benefit her village? From what she'd learned, she had to _even_ question that concept. How much influence did clans have over what her orders were? How much influence did feudal lords have?

If she looked at it from that perspective, she couldn't stop second-guessing her actions… and her devotion to her career as a shinobi. Was she some sort of hero? Or was she just someone that strived to accomplish what _she_ wanted just like the rest? Maybe she was as bad – or as good – as everyone else.

But now that she was being forced to play along with Kabuto's rules... she felt _tainted._ That bastard has forced her so deep into his gruesome shit that she had to admit to herself that she had crossed the line. Maybe she had crossed the line a long time ago. When she made her first kill. Maybe she had crossed the line when she became a shinobi and swore to serve a village though she didn't know how it was run.

Where was she even _supposed_ to draw the line at this moment? Was it ok to kill a foreign shinobi to keep the status of her village? Was it ok to kill a foreign rich land-lord because he threatened the fire nation's economy? Or go on un-ethical missions – like the last one – because it would strengthen Konoha? Was messing up children worth her mission of saving Sasuke and making sure he was around if Obito didn't change his mind?

She sometimes hated the fact that she felt so strongly about others; it sure as hell caused her to question things too much. It was making her question every rule she had learnt as a kid in the academy. But still, she didn't think it made her weak. Tsunade had told her time and time again during her past life that it wasn't weakness; actually quite the opposite. It required strength to accept what one felt and not close her eyes in the face of injustice. But what was she supposed to do with _that_? She would sure as hell get into a lot of trouble.

Sakura was only certain of _one_ thing. As long as her mission wasn't complete, she was trapped. Her life and the life of everyone else depended on the Juubi not coming to life. She couldn't decide what she wanted for her life; she could stop altogether and do what her heart truly wanted; healing people.

But at the same time, she felt like she needed to make up her mind. She couldn't just accept _anything_ anymore. She would make her own choices whenever she could, and she would stop simply being a victim of her lack of resolution in regard to those things. She still wasn't quite sure where she would draw the line, but she would do it. She was tired of playing by other people's rules and doing what was against her beliefs.

Her feet carried her to Kabuto's office, since she needed to hand him a folder with the diagnose of the child's death. She knocked on the door, her body immediately tensing at the mere notion of entering that damned room again. When Kabuto spoke, she walked through the door and stopped right in front of his desk.

"Here is the report." She hissed and threw the folder on his desk. Kabuto watched her with an impassive face but said nothing. She was about to go out of the room, when he called.

"Sakura- _chan._ " His sing-song voice made her blood boil. Her fists clenched as she stopped and she looked at him over her shoulder. "Please take a seat."

"I'd rather stand, thank you very much." She spat and turned around to face him. "So, what is it?"

"You're being very blunt for someone who owes me a favor."

" _I_ owe _you_?" her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Well, yes of course." Kabuto nodded. "I allowed you to leave early a couple weeks ago so you could tend to Hatake Kakashi. _And_ you never returned to your work."

"My shift was long over by then, Kabuto. I had no reason to come back."

"I had simply allowed you to leave your work for a while, but I still expected you to come back and finish the working hours you owed me."

Sakura bit her lip. She _had_ been working in the hospital that _he_ ran, but obviously he was not going to let it slide. "Well, I'll just do the couple of hours that I _owe_ you."

"Very well." he nodded, and then his eyes hardened. Sakura just knew that there was something else going on. "Actually, there's something else that I have to ask of you, and your _debt_ will be repaid."

"What?" she didn't want to owe him anything, but she was skeptical of what he would ask.

"It's come to my attention that you and Sasuke have become… quite close."

It seemed Kabuto had been keeping an eye on her. She should've known. "And?"

"I don't like it."

"Why would you care what I do with my personal life?" she clenched her fists. "It doesn't affect you."

"Oh, yes it does. Let me explain." Kabuto raised a finger as if he were teaching a small kid at school. "You see, Sasuke is to become the head of the Uchiha Clan someday. And as you know clans have very strict rules. If you were to become pregnant, the council would demand you stop working."

"I won't get pregnant. I'm _sixteen_." Sakura set her jaw.

"I'm not taking any chances. And there are also other reasons why it bothers me. Well, I won't delve into it much more, but you can certainly see how it would affect me."

Sakura knew what else bothered him. Sasuke would turn eighteen in a bit over a year. If he decided to marry her when he was considered a legal adult – it felt off to even consider that at this point, but he was the last Uchiha _and_ shinobi clan heirs tend to marry young – she would become the Uchiha matriarch and would hold a lot of power. Obviously Kabuto preferred that she remained single and not attached to any clans. Especially not the Uchiha Clan.

However, Sakura wasn't about to let Kabuto do that to her. Sasuke meant too much to her and she knew that breaking up without a good reason would either make him angry or suspicious. Kabuto would not control her personal life like that. She might be forced to spend hours here working for him, but she knew that he was acting out of his league when he demanded such a thing. There was a limit to what he could ask of her.

"No. I won't accept that." Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Besides, Sasuke won't accept it that easily and I wouldn't try to _find_ a way either. You're _not_ forcing him away from me."

"You don't want to get on my bad side, Haruno." Kabuto glared.

"We were _never_ on good terms anyways. _And_ you're stepping out of line. This is not part of the deal. This is _my_ personal life." She turned around, wanting to leave.

"Stop right there." He stood up in order to look down at her from above.

"… _what_ is it?"

"There's something else"

"Tell me already." Sakura barked.

"Now that the two of you are so close, I can imagine that you've considered letting Sasuke know the truth about the massacre and about the time-travel." He smirked knowing that he was right, even though her face had revealed nothing. "It wouldn't benefit me if he knew. In fact; it wouldn't benefit me if you told anyone at all."

"Ok." Sakura agreed immediately, knowing that Kabuto wouldn't be able to control her _every_ move. "I won't say a thing."

"I'll be watching you."

She stood up without another word and left the office. She faintly wondered if Kabuto had been watching her and Sasuke the other day when they had gone further than intended. The thought of him watching her every move would've frightened her a bit… but she felt no fear for some reason. Only anger.

And resolve.

Anger and resolve.

If Kabuto thought that he could control every aspect of her life, he was _wrong._ He was not going to decide who she had a relationship with, who she told about her secrets and what she did at work.

He would think that he did, but she would make sure to plot against him in every aspect. She would tell Sasuke – and whoever she deemed necessary – about her time-travel when the time was right. She would not break up with Sasuke and give up on something that she had wanted for years. And she would no longer sit idly and watch as he used her for his own selfish goals in the hospital.

She would fight with whatever she had. She would be careful. And eventually, she would win.

 **A/N: Ok. Here it is!**

 **So, Sakura has kinda finally decided to stop her lack of action. She stood up to Kabuto and gave him a piece of her mind. What do you think Kabuto will think of that?**

 **Naruto has also become more alert than in his previous life. He's been in the village for only two weeks and he has already realized that something's off. He may not have intel as it is… but we all know him. He won't stop looking into it until he does.**

 **What did you think about the Sasusaku moment? I'm quite a perv and have been wanting to write a lemony scene for a long time LOL. I finally had the chance to… though I had to stop when things were getting good LOL. Anyways, is it believable that Sasuke has those kinds of restrictions regarding sex? I've always thought that it would kinda be an obvious thing for such a clan and I haven't read much about it in other fics.**

 **Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I hope you enjoyed!**

 **And, as usual, thanks to my beta reader MonochromeAce for reading the whole thing so fast!**


	41. Crevice

**CHAPTER 41**

It turned out that Lee was right. There _was_ a Konoha Clan involved in something shady that had to do with the hospital. The Hyuuga Clan. Of all people who Sakura wouldn't want to get on their bad side, Hiashi Hyuuga was probably on the top of that list. He was frightening, and she would place him right next to Danzo when it came to strictness and creepiness.

Nonetheless, it needed to be done. Sakura had to know what the _hell_ the Hyuugas' deal with the hospital was. She honestly hoped that it didn't have anything to do with her experiments, but as her bad luck had showed her, she was bound to find something unnerving. The only problem was, where to start?

Kabuto was smart and knew that she would snoop around if she had the chance, so he had kept her in the same room for every working hour that she spent in that hospital department. So she was pretty clueless when it came to where to start looking. The whole wing had been constructed while she was away in Suna and it hadn't even existed in her past life. She also couldn't risk being found walking around rooms that she had no clearance to enter, because even though she wasn't taking any shit from Kabuto anymore she wasn't stupid enough to let him see what she was up to.

So that only left one safe option. At least as safe as doing such a thing could get. And that option was Shizune. Sakura knew her quite well; she was hardworking, smart, and good-natured. However, she didn't possess the kind of character that she herself or Tsunade had. Shizune was more submissive and a bit introverted; she would clearly be more easy to control. But still, she wasn't the kind of person to simply experiment on humans. Sakura was certain that something must've triggered, pushed, or forced Shizune into that line of work.

Shizune was organized – there was a reason why she had taken care of everything Tsunade had needed back then as Hokage – trustworthy and easy to read. Sakura could easily picture Kabuto molding her into his right hand – albeit a bit forcefully – or at least a skillful manager in that department. No matter the scenario, Sakura had _no_ doubt that Shizune would know where to find the intel that she needed. It just came to talking her into it.

So, one afternoon when Kabuto had briefly left his office and gone upstairs, Sakura peeked into the hallway until she saw Shizune walk out of a room. The older woman raised an eyebrow at Sakura's strange behavior as soon as her eyes landed on the pinkette. Sakura immediately put a finger to her lips, signaling Shizune to stay quiet, and then motioned for her to get closer. The brunette seemed reluctant and even a bit fearful of doing so – no doubt Kabuto had specifically instructed her not to talk to Sakura – and attempted to walk past Sakura. Sakura decided to take a deep breath in, as in to scream out, and Shizune jumped in surprise. She hurried to Sakura and pushed her into the room that the pinkette had always been working in.

"What is _wrong_ with you, Haruno?" Shizune looked behind her back continuously and seemed distressed. "Don't you know that we're not allowed to talk to one another?"

"We aren't? I wasn't aware of that." Sakura frowned. For some reason, Kabuto was wary of letting them talk.

"Yes, we're not. Now, if you excuse me." The older woman turned around and was about to leave, when Sakura held her wrist firmly.

"Please wait. I need to talk to you."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You know that there's something off with what Kabuto does. Do you know what he's doing?" Shizune stayed quiet and Sakura narrowed her eyes. "You do know and I'm pretty sure that you don't agree. I'll help you. Tell me about it."

"I _can't._ " she tried to pulled out of Sakura's hold.

"Kabuto is not here." Sakura's hand tightened around Shizune's wrist.

"I still can't."

"Why not? Tell me."

"… I can't." Shizune's demeanor almost broke at her last words and Sakura realized that her eyes seemed dull and guarded. Sakura immediately knew there was something up. It was almost like Shizune wanted to talk about it, but was too afraid to do so. Sakura suddenly saw in Shizune part of her own experience, her own feelings.

"You can't talk to me about what's going on here, but you also can't tell me _why_ you need to keep quiet." Sakura said and Shizune confirmed with a nod.

"Now, if you excuse me…"

"No." Sakura said bluntly and the brunette raised her eyebrows. "I won't let you."

"We'll probably die and get nothing done." Shizune averted her eyes. Sakura could see that the older woman wasn't really afraid of death. It was something else…

"We might, but we're shinobi." Sakura nodded and suddenly remembered something Tsunade used to say. "Death comes with being a shinobi. There are times when it's hard to accept, but if you don't get over it, there will be no future."

Sakura wished that the sentence was true. That being a shinobi was truly about protecting the future of people, of her village and home. But somehow, she still found truth in her shishou's words. It seems that Shizune had heard them from Tsunade too, because her dull eyes suddenly shone with emotion.

"We'll do the right thing. We _have_ to. And we'll do it together. You will only do whatever it is that you can do." Shizune looked down in thought. "…I'll do this with or without your help."

Shizune stayed quiet for another moment, her eyes stormy and conflicted. Finally, she looked back into Sakura's eyes and nodded.

"I'm in."

"Great." Sakura smiled widely, feeling a bit relieved that she had Shizune's support. They might not be friends in this life, but she still considered her one. "Listen, I'm aware that taking down Kabuto is hard and it's a too much of a long shot. I know that's not an option. However, I'm trying to unravel this whole thing from a different direction."

" _How_?"

"I've stumbled upon some donations that seem…off. I'd like to check them. I wonder if there's a way for you to help me get a look into documents that could help me figure that out."

The brunette closed her eyes for a moment, considering Sakura's request. It seemed as if she was struggling with something. As if she was wondering if she actually _could_ help her out or not. Sakura wondered if Shizune was being tied by Kabuto in the same way she was. Was Shizune hiding something from the council? Maybe it had something to do with Tsunade?

"I can." The older woman nodded. "But it can't be today. First I need to find out the exact jutsu he's using to seal the room and he's been changing it regularly."

"Great. Thank you, thank you." Sakura smiled and Shizune smiled back, but it seemed forced. "Don't worry. We'll be fine."

"I hope so, Haruno-san."

"It's a great risk… but we're no longer alone in this." Sakura smiled. "Also, call me Sakura."

"All right… Sakura then." Her features relaxed and she now genuinely smiled. "I'll find you when it's time."

"Ok." Sakura put her hand on her shoulder. "I know it's been hard for you… I've felt the same way. I can tell you don't agree with this."

"Of _course_ I don't." Shizune almost whimpered her answer. "This is horrible…"

"I know it's wrong, but I'm sure that you haven't been doing this by choice. Know that I don't judge you. We'll make things right."

"Thank you." Shizune nodded gratefully. "Now… let's just get back to work. We don't want Kabuto to see us talking."

"Hai. Be careful."

The older women nodded one last time before leaving the room Sakura worked in. When the door closed, Sakura sat down heavily in her seat, her eyes briefly looking around the children that lay on the beds. When she was sure that things were stable, she sighed.

What could Shizune possibly be hiding? Was she in danger as well? She didn't seem to be the kind of person who would be involved in shady stuff. She was deeply devoted to the medical field and being a medic-nin. The Shizune she knew would never do such a thing, she would never betray the legacy of Tsunade.

Shizune had seemed so reluctant to talk to her and act against Kabuto. Sakura had had to press her to get her to help. Of course, Kabuto might be holding something against her too. But then again _what?_ What had Shizune done in these past two years? What had she been up to?

Suddenly, an idea hit Sakura and she felt a shiver go down her spine. She hadn't even considered the idea before going to talk to her, because she had honestly assumed things were the same as she knew them to be. She didn't want to consider _that_. She didn't want to doubt in the same way she had with Sasuke months ago. It didn't seem possible. It _couldn't_ be. But she couldn't keep herself from wondering.

What if this Shizune had changed? What if she wasn't the same person she used to know?

Was Shizune even against Kabuto? No matter what, Sakura couldn't go back on her words now. She could only move forwards now. She had to.

 **-x-**

Sakura couldn't believe that almost a year had gone by ever since she came back to Konoha. She couldn't believe that she had done almost _nothing_ in that time. Except killing Sasori, talking to Itachi and doing foolish things inside the village. She honestly felt like shit.

When she first came back in time and had only been eighteen, she had imagined that she could make things right on her own. That she had the means and the power to change things, to effectively and timely prevent the Juubi from coming to life. But things were never easy. No one had told her when she was almost still a child with dreams of being a hero – like Naruto – that life always got in the way. That her feelings got in the way. That the enemy – Kabuto in this case – could so easily get a hold on her life.

That she wasn't a supreme hero. That she was just another girl – or woman – who wanted to do the right thing. Who _tried_ to do the right thing. That sometimes all the things she worried about were just too much for her. That some days she didn't even want to think about what her responsibilities were and she just wanted to enjoy the simple things of life if only for a while. That sometimes she didn't even know what the right thing to do was anymore. What her priorities should be.

She knew there were a lot of wrong things going on, but she didn't feel capable of dealing with everything at once. What should her first course of action be? Be selfish and protect her close and precious people? Make things right in a village that might've been fucked up from long before she even imagined things were wrong? Preventing a war that had actually united shinobi villages in her past life?

Even though Sakura was sure that Kabuto needed to be out of the way, she was sometimes doubtful about everything else. She had found the will to stand against him, but she still didn't understand the whole picture. How could she? It was now clear that it was so much more complex and that it would be a long and strenuous process. That she would have to understand things that only few people ever did, and even they usually only managed to do so in their late adulthood. Would she ever be able to do something about everything that she was getting a glimpse of?

Was it even worth her time or should she fully worry about the Juubi? Or just trust Itachi to delay the process until Konoha was working along strict ethic precepts and could actually support the war against the Akatsuki?

Yes, Sakura was usually filled with worries. One part of her was glad that she was finding out about these things and that she was questioning what she had learned. She was becoming a full adult now at twenty-three, wasn't she? But another part of her sometimes wished she was as ignorant and blissful and _clear_ about what she had to do as before. As she was when she was younger; a teenager. When she trusted orders, when she believed the enemy was just one and that everyone would unite to crush them. When her biggest issue was Sasuke not being in the village.

Nonetheless, where were times when she felt the innocent bliss of her younger days. If there was something that helped her do so, it was when she was surrounded by her precious people. It was when she felt their support and love. When she felt _home_ despite living in a village she no longer was sure if she knew.

And today was one of those days.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's hug was tight and warm as he met her in the middle of the street. Sakura smiled and hugged him back as he beamed into her shoulder. "Haaaaaappy birthday!"

"Thanks." She pulled apart and patted him on the shoulder. "I wish you'd been here for your own. I would've definitely taken you out for ramen."

"We do that all the time." He chuckled.

"Still. What _else_ could I possibly get you for your birthday?"

"I guess." The blonde shrugged. "But enough about that. Are you done with your _never ending_ schedule?"

"Yeah. I already finished my shift."

"All right! We're celebrating at your place, aren't we?"

"Yes. Come on." she promptly dragged him home, her smile widening.

Sakura hadn't planned anything big – not at all – but it was exactly what she wanted. Her closest people would gather at her place and celebrate. She honestly hadn't been looking for a night out or getting drunk – like she had once imagined she would at that age – and instead just wanted to be at ease. Have a good time that she could actually remember.

They soon arrived and Sakura smiled at the view inside. Her parents were setting the table with her most preferred foods – god, she still remembered the time she lived after the Juubi and the idea of just sitting at the table with delicious food and the ones she cared about was _priceless_ – and they seemed to not notice them for a moment. Until…

"Naruto!" her mother scolded as her eyes zeroed on the blonde. "You were supposed to arrive at 7 pm."

"Err… isn't it like 7 already?" It wasn't like him to carry a watch around. And honestly, Naruto would be on time if he thought it was for something important. He was just too careless about _these_ kind of things.

"Not for another fifteen minutes." Mebuki sighed. "She was not supposed to get here until everything was done."

"Oh, no problem! I'll fix this." Naruto snickered and pushed Sakura into the first room he found; the kitchen.

And what they encountered was… hilarious. It wasn't the messy kitchen filled with dirty bowls. It wasn't the fact that there was a strange smell in the air that seemed to be from a sweet pastry instead of savory cooking. No. Sasuke _and_ Ino were inside the kitchen. _Baking_ an Anmitsu cake. Wearing Aprons. _Aprons._ Frigging _aprons._

And Ino was reprimanding Sasuke about something – probably the cake – or rather bitching about something he had done wrong. And Sasuke had the most exasperated expression that she had ever seen. _Ever._ The prefect mixture between personal frustration at whatever he had done wrong, annoyance due to the girl complaining to no end, and irritation over his hands and face filled with what looked like dough.

"Holy-!" Naruto laughed out loud, interrupting his own cursing. He managed to catch his breath after a while and then spoke in between laughs. "You look like an old lady!"

"What are you talking about, huh?" Ino narrowed her eyes at him and Sakura couldn't suppress the small giggle that left her lips.

"Sasuke, of course! I wish I could take a picture of him like this!" Naruto laughed once again and looked at Sakura. "I would show it to your children over and over again."

"Baka!" Sakura playfully slapped him on the upper arm, but she still had a hard time suppressing her own laughter.

Sasuke ignored everyone, and Sakura swore that there was tick mark on his forehead by now. His eyes were still trained on whatever he was doing. Sakura wondered if he was having a hard time decorating the cake or if he was bothered by Naruto.

"Yo, Sasuke. I've been needing a cleaning lady back home for a couple weeks now." The blonde snickered.

"Since _forever,_ dumbass." Sasuke didn't skip a beat.

"Shut up!" the blonde complained. "Still, you might want to do it, since you seem real good at house work."

"There's nothing wrong with doing these things. That's something you obviously don't understand, seeing as you live in a shithole."

"Hey!"

"You would've obviously messed up your clothes while baking, and _still_ walked around in them since you're too lazy to even wash them." Sasuke seemed to be venting his annoyance out on Naruto. There was a tiny smirk on his lips and Sakura found it hilarious how he always managed to turn Naruto's jokes around.

"I _do_ wash them, bastard!"

"Like once a year, maybe."

"Not at all!"

"You _stink_."

Naruto gasped and his jaw fell. "I don't!"

"I can _smell_ you coming every time."

"Sakura!" Naruto's head snapped towards her. "I don't smell, do I?"

"You don't, Naruto." Sakura giggled.

"Ha!" Naruto pointed at Sasuke. "See?"

"Of course she wouldn't want to hurt your feelings… idiot."

Naruto seemed distressed for a moment and then turned to Ino, who had been washing her hands and not paying attention to the bickering. "Ino! Do I _smell_!?"

"Men are such idiots." Ino rolled her eyes and ignored Naruto's dilemma. She walked towards the hallway taking Sakura's hand to pull her along.

" _What_?!" Naruto's loud voice could still be clearly heard through the closed door. "Teme, tell me the truth! –Huh?! Of course Hinata-chan would've said something about it!"

Sakura laughed as they strolled down towards the living room and their voices faded. "They're a riot, aren't they?"

"I'm glad I'm not in the same team as them." Ino rolled her eyes, but Sakura could tell she was amused as well. "Anyways, forehead."

"Yeah?"

"Happy birthday!" she beamed and hugged Sakura. "I tried to teach your _boyfriend_ how to make a decent cake. One that you would like. He doesn't seem clueless about cooking, but damn he's _horrible_ at following instructions! Such an arrogant and stubborn walking example of male pride."

Sakura laughed, knowing that Ino was partly right. Sasuke didn't like to be told what to do. He only ever listened to a few people, and he still mostly did what he wanted anyways.

"Sakura-chan!" Kizashi ran to his daughter and hugged her tightly. "We missed two of your birthdays. It was horrible! So we wanted it to be perfect and ready when you came home."

"It doesn't matter, dad." Sakura chuckled.

"Yes it does! You didn't want _anything_ as a gift. How else were we supposed to celebrate?"

"I didn't _need_ anything, dad. It-"

"-how could you not need _anything_?" Ino gaped. "I mean. Earrings? A new bed? Clothes? _Weapons_?There _has_ to be _something._ "

"I don't. I have all I need." _-except peace of mind._ "I'm lucky to have everything I do."

"Jeez, Sakura. You don't have to be so serious about everything." Ino sighed and waved Sakura's giggle off. "Whatever. Come, let's sit."

Sakura knew where Ino was coming from. She had been like that once too. She probably would've been like that for all of her life if she hadn't lived through what she had after the Juubi destroyed everything. If she hadn't realized how lucky she'd been to have a hot meal, clean water, clothes and a solid roof to sleep under. How lucky she had been to have time to rest, friends and family. _Company_. If she hadn't lost it all once, she probably would still think that she always needed more. When she thought about that, Sakura was partly glad that she had been through that hell. She had surely learnt a great deal and was capable of finding happiness in the really important things.

"Sakura."

"Hey." Sakura turned around as she was sitting down, to see Sasuke walk in with a body language that no longer looked defeated. Naruto was right behind him, looking unsettled and trying to inconspicuously take a sniff at his armpit. Everyone laughed at his irked behavior and he finally shrugged, not really caring if he smelled anymore. Naruto and Sasuke sat down at the table, with the Uchiha on Sakura's side.

"Happy Birthday." Sasuke said to her and his eyes softened a bit.

"Thanks!" Sakura smiled widely. "I can't believe you actually took cooking lessons from Ino."

Sasuke huffed. "It wasn't a _lesson._ "

"What would you call it then?" Sakura chuckled.

"It was a mere exchange of skills in cooking."

"Oh… right. Because you've baked anmitsu cake so many times before."

"Sakura… shut up."

She laughed and then raised an eyebrow. "Was it worth it?"

"Depends on if you like it." Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You better. It was _hell_ in there."

"Yeah, because of _your_ stuck-up attitude!" Ino intervened and Sasuke merely ignored her. A couple seconds went by and she narrowed her eyes. "Grrrr… stop acting as if _I'm_ the one who's difficult to deal with."

Sasuke reached for a glass of beverage and _slowly_ took a sip. Ino was about to pull her hair out, when Sakura laughed loudly.

" _Everyone_ is difficult to deal with, including everyone at this table." She thought for a moment. "Maybe everyone except my mom."

"Maybe." Sasuke nodded.

"Sakura got that part from my side!" Kizashi beamed. "I'm so proud! My little sweetie!"

"Dad…" Sakura rolled her eyes, not wanting to think that she was as difficult as her father.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with showing affection!"

"Of course. But the way you do it is almost embarrassing. With or without an audience."

"Oh, Mebuki doesn't complain about my emotional side!" he smiled widely.

"Well, after over twenty years together, you either learn to live with it or you don't." Mebuki said on a monotone, but a small smile was on her lips, indicating her teasing demeanor.

Sasuke felt a small smile tug at his lips at that. Mebuki sometimes reminded him of his mother, while other times she reminded him of his father. She had such a particular character that mixed strictness and caring together. Actually, now that Sasuke thought of it better, Sakura's mother kind of reminded him of his own character.

While Kizashi was funny – something that Sasuke had been uncomfortable around before – and wasn't unpleasant to be around, Sasuke didn't feel completely at ease. He had just grown up in a different environment and he wondered if he would ever feel truly comfortable around someone like Naruto or Kizashi for long periods of time. Of course Kizashi had managed to dig his way in and though Sasuke was slightly irked by his constant comical attitude – something he wouldn't say aloud at this point though – he had learnt to enjoy the old man's company.

There was something about Mebuki. Not only did he enjoy her company, but she also reminded him of his own deceased family in a way. It was like the mother he hadn't had in a long time and she knew exactly how to treat him so he would feel at ease. As if she had a sixth sense that would always tell her how he was feeling, like his mother used to have.

It was something slightly terrifying – meeting someone that actually felt like family – but it made him _hope_ at the same time. He sometimes wanted to push them away and not consider them family – his memories of his clan always got the best of him – and other times he wanted to welcome it. So he had remained in an in between gray area of not pushing away nor fully letting in either. Sasuke wondered sometimes if bonding with Sakura's mother in a way that felt almost like his own mother was weird. He sometimes felt like he was bothering a family he wasn't a part of – and one that didn't know how to tell him to stay away – or getting too involved for his own emotional wellbeing. But for the past few years Sasuke had felt the slowly increasing urge to feel part of a family again and Mebuki didn't seem bothered at all.

Sakura and Kizashi probably didn't know, but sometimes when he would arrive early when visiting Sakura, Mebuki would drink some tea with him. And Sasuke actually opened up to her, to a point where he was almost as close to her as to Sakura. Mebuki was a great listener to the point where she could really read people and she sometimes even gave advice before he even explained the issue in depth.

If he ever came to have a mother in law – who were usually said to be a pain in the ass – he would definitely want someone like Mebuki. Maybe Kizashi wouldn't be as easy to deal with, but he wouldn't really mind.

Obviously, it wasn't like he was _planning_ on marrying Sakura or anything. Maybe he would in time, but he was still sixteen and knew that it was a _huge_ deal – especially in his case – and he couldn't make a rash decision. Sakura did mean a lot to him and was probably the one person he was closest to. He really trusted her and he felt that she trusted him… but not completely. There was something about her. Something she wasn't saying.

Of course Sasuke wasn't the best person to complain about that, since he was really private. But the fact that he wasn't open with his feelings wasn't equal to _hiding_ something. Sasuke didn't feel any malice or something similar from what she wasn't saying – he wouldn't have gotten close to her otherwise – but he had the feeling that it was something big. He _had_ a few theories, but they all seemed flawed and inconsistent. Besides, he hadn't wanted to dwell too deeply on it, because he expected her to tell him of her own accord.

He also had a good memory. He remembered every time Sakura had avoided his questions and he suspected that all those things were somehow connected to each other in some way. The reaction when Senju Tsunade died, her distress on her first day at the hospital after coming back from Suna. She had never denied that there was something going on, but she hadn't told him what.

What he didn't understand though was _why_ keep it a secret. What if Sakura was afraid of him pushing her away because of it? Maybe she feared he would be disappointed? Maybe it was something else entirely. He had no way of knowing. Sasuke believed he _had_ proved that he was a reliable person and that he was emotionally stable. He _had_ proved that he cared for her and that he accepted her flaws, just like she did when it came to him.

Sasuke wondered if ever since their relationship had changed she had changed her mind about telling him. She knew that she could trust him, right? Maybe she had decided she should tell him but didn't know how to bring it up. How to explain things to him.

Maybe she still didn't want to speak about it at all. He didn't want to put himself in that position because it wouldn't make sense if she didn't trust him after everything. It would honestly disappoint him. Because he had told her about his most horrible experiences, what he felt about his deceased family and how hard it had been to deal with the shadow of Itachi all of his life.

But she hadn't said a _thing_ about her own problems. _Why_? Trust _was_ supposed to be a two-way street. He was supposed to be helping her out too, but how could he when he didn't really know what her issues were? It felt frustrating and disheartening when he thought about it.

Sasuke knew how hard it was to speak about ones darkest secrets. Also, he had become a quite patient person in time. He had first asked about what her issues were _four_ years ago, right after the Sound invasion and they had been close teammates at that time. _Four years._ He had then asked her about it almost a year ago, and he had already considered them really close friends by then.

But Sasuke hadn't wanted to put any more pressure on her. But he somehow felt that, at this point, they needed to be fully honest with each other. They couldn't be keeping important things from the other and she needed to face whatever it was that was keeping her from telling the truth.

So, right there at Sakura's dining table, he made up his mind.

He would question her about it.

 **-x-**

The hallway seemed empty, and her sharpened senses told her that he still wasn't in the building. Shizune looked back at Sakura over her shoulder and motioned with her head towards the far end of the hallway. As soon as Sakura nodded in agreement both rushed towards the door and Shizune immediately started doing the hand signs to release the jutsu that was keeping the door shut.

As soon as the jutsu was released, both girls entered the room and Shizune led Sakura towards a huge shelf that contained _hundreds_ of files. There were so many, Sakura was afraid she wouldn't have enough time to find the one she was looking for, because Kabuto never left the hospital for long.

"Tell me you know what file it is." Sakura frowned.

"I'm sorry." Shizune shook her head. Sakura wondered if she didn't know or if she couldn't help her any further.

Sakura sighed and thanked Shizune nonetheless, and then immediately started looking at the different tabs on the folders. Shizune watched Sakura for a while and then made up her mind.

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"Something that connects the hospital with the Hyuuga Clan... or any clan actually. Or even the council." Sakura answered, her eyes not leaving the shelf.

"All right. This corruption sounds like something I'd never imagine happening in Konoha." She frowned. "What is going on?"

"I hope we find out soon."

Seconds turned into minutes. And minutes started to pass by faster than Sakura was comfortable with. She feared that they would run out of time, so she kept on feeling her surroundings to make sure Kabuto was not near. If he got close to the hallway, she would immediately notice and they would have to get out in the blink of an eye.

"Sakura." Shizune called from her right and Sakura looked at her. "I think I found something."

"What? Let me see." She hurried towards Shizune and read the title on the folder she was holding. " _Historical Benefactors of Konoha Hospital_."

"There's a Hyuuga Tab in there." Shizune pointed at the white tab, but then her finger moved to a blue one. "As well as an Uchiha Tab."

"Uchiha?" Sakura's eyes widened and her heart clenched.

Were the Uchiha's in this business as well? She didn't even want to think about it, but she had to look into it anyways. She opened the folder and quickly went through the pages of donations of both the Uchiha and the Hyuuga clans.

Pages and Pages, hundreds and hundreds of donations. Both the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuuga Clan had been funding the hospital for generations. Actually, the first donation was as early as the founding of the village. Of course the Uchiha's had stopped donating after the massacre, but the Hyuugas had continued doing so until as soon as a week ago.

 _Does Sasuke know about this?_ Sakura frowned. Maybe he didn't, because no donations have been made ever since his family passed away. However, Sasuke doesn't have access to the Clan's finances yet, not until he becomes head of the clan. He might know about whatever was going on, but he just can't use the Uchiha's resources at this time.

Then again, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga clans have always been the wealthiest and most powerful in Konoha. Also, they had been making donations since the beginning, so this probably didn't have anything to do with Danzo. If there was _someone_ who had historically had the resources to make the hospital better, it was those two clans.

Sakura didn't want to think that she had been following a false lead. There _had_ to be something else. She had the suspicion that the Clans _were_ doing shady stuff, mainly because of the way they had been relating to Danzo and the council. Because she was now almost certain that they had always known about the massacre and they hadn't said a thing.

Sakura decided to look into the specifications of the donations. Her eyes started reading through the numbers and the details of the donations. The more she read, the wider her eyes became.

"Shizune… are you seeing this?" Sakura's voice was almost nonexistent.

"I… am." She managed to speak.

Both girls were frozen to the spot. For every donation that the Uchiha's had made, the Hyuugas had too. It had been like a war of donations, as if no clan wanted to be left behind. And second, but not at all least, the donations were mostly centered in what Sakura could sum up as 'investigation and research'. Maybe around 10% of the donations had been made to other departments of the hospital, but most of the money had been _explicitly_ donated to the area Sakura worked in.

"This doesn't look right." Shizune frowned. "Why would they give most of the funding to investigation and such, when what is always needed the most is more beds, more medicine and more personnel."

"They _must_ be getting something out of this."

"Do you think… the heads of the clans know what is going on down here?" Shizune's voice sounded almost… desperate for Sakura to deny it. Shizune was older than Sakura, but she had always been innocent in a way. Shizune didn't want to think that the village worked that way... Sakura couldn't blame her; she had been reluctant at first too.

"I'm afraid they might." Sakura answered.

Sakura suddenly remembered to check her surroundings – she had forgotten for a few minutes after they found the folder – and allowed her chakra to flow freely around her. Her eyes snapped open and she turned to look at Shizune with wide eyes.

"Kabuto is close!" Sakura whisper shouted and slapped the folder close, immediately putting it in its place. "Come on!"

Both girls hurried out of the room and Shizune placed the sealing jutsu back in place, before they shared a quick glance and went back to work. Sakura's heart didn't stop beating in her chest until she had closed the door behind her. She released the breath she'd been holding and looked around. Everything seemed to be fine.

Sakura felt a heaviness in her stomach. What was that all about? The Hyuuga's? The Uchiha's? Funding the hospital's research for such a long time, for so many generations. _Why_? Was there something going on? Was Kabuto not an isolated situation? Had this happened before?

Sakura didn't want to believe it. She'd been second in charge at the hospital in her past life and she had _never_ seen anything like what Kabuto had been doing. Then again… Tsunade _had_ held a deep dislike for the Hyuuga Clan, and she had never been quite in favor of Sasuke or the Uchiha's. Tsunade was impatient, but Sakura had always noticed how the powerful clans in Konoha had given her a head ache much more than any other group of people. Had there been something going on back then too? Had Tsunade known about all of this? Had the Hyuugas and the council pressured Tsunade in ways she never imagined? Why had Tsunade never said a thing?

More importantly, _what_ was it that the clans were so interested in? Why spend so much money in 'research' when they would _normally_ not get anything from it? If it were only well intended and selfless donations, then why not give it all to improve the hospitals capacity so that more people could be healed? There was definitely something up. There _had_ to be something that the Hyuugas – and previously the Uchihas too – gained from all of it.

 **-x-**

There had been times when Sasuke watched her like this. And it was unnerving. Like he was looking _into_ her, observing and trying to figure something out. And she had lately gotten the feeling that he wanted to know about what she was hiding – her time travel and all it involved. It hadn't always felt this way when he watched her, but now it somehow did. She felt under scrutiny.

For the past week or two he would sometimes just watch her, as if he was trying to dissect her or figure out a complex math formula. Sakura had a good guess; Sasuke had been wondering about the things she'd been keeping from him. She had felt a bit under pressure about it, because _god_ she knew she had to tell him about her secret. He deserved to know and _she_ deserved to speak to him about it and get the damned load off her shoulders.

She knew she had already decided not to speak until all the evidence was there, until she had everything she needed to make sure Sasuke wouldn't make a mistake. She knew she had promised Itachi to keep Sasuke safe and not put him in danger. She _knew_ what was at stake here; her life, Sasuke's life, Naruto'slife, Itachi's life, and last but not least the possibility of having a second chance at defeating Obito with Sasuke's help if he were to stay on the opposite side. Also, her shinobi status required her to keep it a secret, to stay quiet about it. It was her _mission._

But it felt so _wrong_ to do so, to keep it from him. And she had felt so lost lately. She had just started to see that there was something so much bigger than Danzo's cruelty. She was almost sure that the other clans knew about the truth behind the Uchiha massacre – how could they not when they must've _obviously_ witnessed the skyrocketing political tension. Maybe they had even played a part in all of it. She had absolutely no clue about how to proceed if things were as complex as she believed. Also, she couldn't keep Sasuke in the dark _forever_. Besides, he was intelligent; two heads would definitely think better than one and maybe she would find a way to deal with this whole ordeal.

So she had considered it. To just talk to him about it, tell him the truth now even though she still hadn't gathered what she needed to start a case against Danzo – she wasn't even taking into account the chances they had in suing the Hokage. She had considered telling him many _many_ times in the past few weeks, but she always came to a wall of doubt. And fear. Mainly fear.

She was so scared. What if everything went to hell? What if Sasuke didn't react well to the secrets behind the massacre? What if he didn't react well to the fact that she'd kept that hidden from him for _years_?Sakura was sure that this Sasuke was different from the one in the past, but she couldn't help but fear. How different was he? Was it enough for him to act with a level head instead of impulsively like he had done so many times before? She just didn't want to lose what she had with Sasuke, and she didn't want him to lose his mind.

"Sakura."

Sasuke's voice broke the long silence that had ensued as they sat at his dining table. Both knew that the other one was aware that something was up.

Sakura didn't want him to ask, especially here at his place. She had realized that there was usually someone watching her, almost all the time when she was around Sasuke. He probably wasn't even aware that there was someone eavesdropping on them, because she was barely able to notice it even with her heightened sensing skills. She was pretty sure that it was a high level root ANBU, and she _couldn't_ risk telling him with a high chance of them being overheard. Sasuke didn't have the Tsukuyomi like Itachi did and she also didn't have the same freedom she used to have when she told Kakashi. How could she tell him without putting their lives at immediate risk? Therefore, she tried to avoid the conversation. "Yes, we should serve some tea."

Sasuke held her in place with his arm around her forearm. "Tea can certainly wait for later. We need to talk."

"Ah…" Sakura knew that she couldn't simply ignore this from the look on his face. "What about?"

"Listen, I know there's something going on." He frowned. "With you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You've been hiding something."

Sakura tried to swallow the thick ball in her throat. "Why would you say that?"

"Are you going to deny it?" his eyes narrowed slightly.

Sakura sighed heavily, knowing she couldn't hide her feelings from him – he knew her too well – and trying to figure out what to say. "I won't."

"Then what is it?"

"…"

"Sakura… you know you can trust me, right?"

"Of course." She replied instantly, but her body language was still stiff.

"Then why are you struggling with it so much?"

"It's difficult, Sasuke." Sakura felt her hands tightening at her sides and her heartbeat accelerated. Sasuke's hand brushed her own in a supporting gesture. Sakura closed her eyes for a moment. What good was it to continue keeping it a secret? Sasuke already knew there was something up and she had the feeling that he wouldn't just drop the subject after randomly bringing it up. She took a deep breath. "It's a big deal. Things might change for good."

"What could change?"

"You. Us." Sakura looked down and felt a pang in her heart at the idea of what could happen.

"Why?"

"It's just… Sasuke." Sakura's voice didn't break, but it quivered. She wasn't broken, but she was afraid. He could tell. "I'm so scared to tell you."

"…" Sasuke frowned. He didn't understand. What would possibly change things so much that she was so scared to talk about it? "You should know that I'm not the kind of person to just throw everything away and walk away from the truth. From a challenge. If we need to work something out, we will."

"I want to tell you. I've wanted to for a long time." Sakura closed her eyes, thinking hard. "God… it's been killing me to keep this from you."

"Why haven't you?"

"I…" _I'm afraid you'll lose yourself. You'll throw away the life you've built. I'm afraid you'll hate me. I'm afraid they'll find out and hurt us._ "I'm sorry. I _want_ to tell you."

"Then do. Tell me."

"…you wouldn't hate me?"

Sasuke thought for a moment. What could he possibly hate Sakura for? If she had been keeping a secret from him he wouldn't hate her – he already knew there was something up. Even if she were to have someone else on the side, he wouldn't hate her. He would be disappointed and probably sad or bitter for a while, but he would just walk away.

"I can't imagine what would make me hate you… but I can't promise such a thing." Sasuke sighed. "But I do know that keeping things hidden won't turn out right in the end."

"I know… I know." Sakura bit her lip hard. Her heart started pounding in her chest. "I _know_ it hasn't been right to keep this from you. But I'm hoping you'll understand why I haven't told you."

"All right." Sasuke nodded and waited for a few seconds. "Go ahead."

"I… can't tell you now." Sakura bit her lip.

"What?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Well…" looked into Sasuke's eyes and stared _hard_ out the window repeatedly, trying to get him to understand that someone might be watching. Her eyes locked with his once again and she had the feeling that he understood. "I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

"Fine." Sasuke agreed, but hearing his tone she could tell that he wasn't happy about not talking right away. Had he understood her reasons? Was he angry because he thought she didn't want to speak?

"Thanks." Sakura smiled a bit, knowing that she would be just as upset in his place.

"No problem." Sasuke nodded – it still amazed her how good of an actor he could be – and then leaned forward to give her a hug. She was slightly taken aback by the gesture; Sasuke was kind, but he wasn't one to initiate hugs like that. But then he whispered into her ear. "You'll tell me on our next mission."

Sakura smiled at him, silently agreeing with it. His eyes were slightly demanding and she could tell that he was feeling impatient, but he still respected her decision of telling him another time. And she was grateful.

It would be a hard thing to do to finally tell him the whole truth. It would be risky and it would keep her hanging for three days. Three days of expectancy and angst, she even decided that it would've been better for her emotional health to tell him right away. Because their next mission was three whole days away. Too long to wait, and too soon to prepare.

Only three days.

The thing was… they didn't know that they would never leave on that mission.

 **A/N: OK! Chapter 41 for you people!**

 **I know… I've been taking longer to update. At first I used to update once a week or maybe three times a month. Then it went down to just twice a month… and now I'm barely keeping up with once a month.**

 **It's just that the plot has gotten more complex and, even though the general plotline is done, there are details here and there that I have to make sure fix.**

 **What do you think of Sasuke's POV? I haven't written anything from his perspective for some time and I wonder what you think of his development involving Sakura and her family.**

 **What about the clans and the hospital? Am I getting to deep into corruption and political issues? Ugh. Maybe, right? But then again, the real world is just like that.**

 **And last but not least… the team + ino + harunos interaction at Sakura's place? Was everyone in character?**

 **I don't think you guys know what is going on… do you? The clues are becoming less evident, so I dare you to pinpoint what will happen! I would love to just spoil it to you right here and now, but that would be too bad.**

 **Maybe you expected me to write what was going to happen after that last line. Well yeah, I know. I was forced to split the chapter in two. You see, it would've been a monster chapter of over 15k words, and I wasn't about to update such a long thing. Chapters that long are difficult to read and I didn't want to make my beta revise** _ **that**_ **. Also, I would've made you wait so much.**

 **The good thing is, chapter 42 is completely planned in detail, so I'll probably update in two weeks or so…**

 **Then again I've been promising that for a long time so meh. Who knows.**


	42. Break

**CHAPTER 42**

Itachi was a genius shinobi. The kind that appeared maybe once every decade worldwide. He had managed to hide from the Akatsuki – who probably already knew of his betrayal due to his encounter with Zetsu – and also from the rest of the shinobi villages and their nin hunters. He had _also_ singlehandedly killed Hidan, Kisame and Deidara. Kakashi's team had taken out Kakuzu. Sakura had only taken down Sasori _with_ the help of her team.

So, five members had been taken out. It was a good development, but Sakura feared that they were moving too slow. She didn't think that they were making more improvements than in her past life at this point in time. They had to make a move soon or-

" _Sa-ku-ra._ "

"Huh?" her face turned to Tenten, who seemed to have been talking to her.

"Your birthday was two days ago, wasn't it?" the pinkette nodded and Tenten groaned. "I didn't know. Happy birthday nonetheless, I hoped you enjoyed."

"Thanks." Sakura smiled. "I did have a good time."

"Great." Tenten grinned widely, freckles stretching along the bridge of her nose. Her smile then faded and she sighed in defeat. "It's too bad that you didn't find anything in the hospital though."

"Yeah… it was the only lead we had." Sakura smiled sympathetically.

"It's weird though. Why doesn't anyone know about those donations? People always tend to _brag_ about it when doing so."

"Hm… they're probably just private people." Sakura shrugged. "Besides, the fact that many clans have been making donations to the hospital for a long time means that it has _nothing_ to do with Danzo. This is probably a dead end."

Tenten hummed at Sakura's response, and her eyes lingered on the pinkette's form for a while longer. Sakura didn't meet her inquiring gaze, but she definitely _felt_ it. She honestly hoped that Tenten wouldn't suspect that she was hiding something from her and from Lee. Because if there was something that Sakura had learned about Tenten it was that she had good instincts.

Sakura did feel slightly sorry that she had to lie. But then again, she couldn't just go ahead and tell Tenten everything she'd found on those files. She still didn't know the whole picture, but she sure as hell didn't want any of them looking into what Kabuto's twisted department was doing in the hospital. She definitely didn't need any of them asking her questions that could complicate the current situation .

'Sakura, why would you agree to help with human experimentation?'

'Why didn't you say anything about it to the authorities?'

'Why didn't you do something against Kabuto?'

Because, _how_ could she answer that without explaining that Kabuto was almost immortal and that they had both come from a different timeline? Without exposing her secret and risking Lee spilling it to someone else – because that's just the way he was – and letting hell break loose?

Because _what_ could Tenten and Lee actually do against Kabuto? Nothing. If they tried anything against him directly, Kabuto would kill them on the spot. If Kabuto found out that they _knew_ about the time travel _,_ he would certainly consider crushing them. And he wouldn't break a sweat.

"So, Sakura. Are you going home now?"

"Lee already left and it's getting late. I'll probably train for a while and my parents will probably be expecting me for dinner later."

"I wouldn't miss a minute of them if I were you." Tenten smiled softly. "And let me guess… training with Sasuke."

"How did you guess?" Sakura chuckled, aware that everyone knew that the both of them always trained together. "I'll be going then."

Tenten nodded. "Tell him I said hi."

Sakura felt that in this lifetime, she and Tenten got along better. In her past life, Sakura had been quite an ungrateful brat and had always considered her parents nagging and a drag. She hadn't known what she'd had. Tenten had always been an orphan, so it made sense that her attitude back then had kind of prevented them from growing closer – like it had with Sasuke. That was maybe the reason that Tenten had always been one of the few girls – or more accurately, people – that Sasuke tolerated.

Sakura sometimes wished the two of them could become friends; Sasuke definitely needed someone aside from Shikamaru and Naruto.

 **-x-**

"It's always the same with you." Sakura complained as she tried to catch her breath.

"That's just how it's supposed to be."

"No, Sasuke. No one's supposed to waste that much chakra during training." Sakura groaned. If it were up to Sasuke, he would train until he was drained and would go back home almost out of chakra.

"You're wrong. It's the only way to build up better reserves and to learn how to actually fight without chakra." Sasuke's breath also came out shortened.

"I don't know why I even bother." Sakura rolled her eyes. She always tried to convince Sasuke to be more responsible with his health and chakra reserves, also pointing out that no one ever knew when a mission could come up.

"Beats me."

Sakura glared at him a bit and then sighed. "Whatever, let's just go." She said and they started walking back. "So, are you coming over for dinner today?"

"Sakura… I can't stay for dinner every other day."

"Why not?" Sakura looked at him. "You enjoy it."

Sasuke sighed; Sakura always managed to know what he felt about anything. Of course she would figure out that he actually wanted to have dinner at her place. Opening up to other people was positive, but at the same time it made him feel so much lonelier when he spent too many evenings in a row alone at his place. He actually looked forward to good company – not that he would say it aloud – and one of those situations was when going over to Sakura's. However…

"I don't want to intrude."

"What? Sasuke, my parents really like you!"

"I know. But I don't want to push them to the point where they have to _ask_ me not to come over."

"Even if they wanted to, I wouldn't let them. But they would never. They know what you've been through; they've accepted you as a part of the family. They really want you to feel included. And it's not like you stay until too late either."

"…"

"Well, only if you want. If you're tired you can go home."

Sasuke was about to take the bait and excuse himself… but for some reason he felt like going to her place that day once more. "All right, I'll stay for a while."

"Great. I always see too little of you since we both have a tight schedule _even_ on weekends. Meeting half an hour for lunch and some days to train for an hour or two can hardly be considered quality time."

"I know." Sasuke nodded. He didn't even remember how long it had been since they'd last kissed – really kissed. He sometimes felt like taking some of the load off his shoulders so he could spend more time with her. To stay at home and rest every now and then… but that would be a horrible lack of commitment to his duty to become stronger in order to kill Itachi.

After a few minutes, Sasuke picked up on something in the air. "Burning."

"What?"

"Something's burning."

"Maybe there's a fire somewhere?" Sakura noticed too and looked up to the sky, trying to pinpoint where the smoke was coming from.

"Maybe." The burning smell did have a particular scent that Sasuke couldn't quite pinpoint. He looked up as well, as the both of them turned to the left on a smaller street. Sasuke froze.

 _No._

"Sakura."

"…"

" _Sakura."_

His head snapped from the low cloud of black smoke that they now could see to Sakura's face. Her eyes wide in shock and her body frozen in place. The smoke was coming from somewhere next to Sakura's place. And both of them were sharp and experienced enough to know that whatever was burning up was either in her place or in her neighbors.

Sakura broke out of her stupor and darted towards her house. Sasuke's stomach dropped and he felt his breath shortened as he followed her lead. Sasuke knew how hard her family had worked to buy a place of their own, considering that both Sakura's grandparents had been foreign. He wanted to be wrong, but from the way the smoke seemed it appeared that whatever was burning came from Sakura's place and not a different house. And from the amount of dark smoke, it was probably a huge fire.

It seemed Sakura was well aware of this too, because he could see her thoughts clearly reflected on her expression. _"No, no, no, no."_

Half a minute later, both of them were standing in front of Sakura's place with wide eyes. Something burning didn't cover it. Her house was completely on fire. From the first floor to the second and on up to the roof. Everything was in flames. Sasuke's head jerked to look at Sakura, whose eyes were wide in shock and whose body was tense. Both were well aware that the house would be lost at this point. At least Sakura lived in a neighborhood where the houses were spaced apart from each other, so it was the only one caught up in the flames.

"Sakura-san!" Sasuke looked behind Sakura to see that a neighbor he'd seen once or twice was running their way. "We don't know what happened! In just a couple minutes your house caught fire and it's… already like this! I can't believe how fast it expanded. We already called the fire squad but they're not here yet."

"Thank you." Sasuke answered for her; she seemed to be deep in thoughts – or worries. Sasuke sniffed the air once more… there was something off with the smoke.

"You're welcome. I'll be right there in case you-"

"Where are they?" Sakura's small shaky voice cut through her neighbor's.

"Who?"

"My parents." Her voice rose a bit. "Where are they?"

"Huh? I haven't seen them." The man drawled. "Don't worry. I'm sure they weren't inside, because they would've gotten out before it spread."

"Sakura, do you sense them inside?"

Sakura shook her head in denial. She didn't, but they both knew that it didn't guarantee a thing. There were ways to make chakra fully undetectable unless right next to the source.

Sasuke could visibly see Sakura's hand twitch at the prospect, and he immediately knew what she was thinking. Her parents had been preparing dinner and waiting for Sakura to come back home. The chances of them leaving before the fire started were slim.

Sasuke saw a flash of his nightmares pass in front of his eyes. The day that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The bodies and the blood. The death of people he'd held dear, of people he'd loved, of his family. Sasuke clenched his eyes closed and took a deep breath in in an attempt to clear his head. He exhaled and opened them again, turning to look at Sakura. It was comforting – and strange – to see that she seemed more in control than he was. Her eyes shone with intelligence as she locked eyes with him and made a decision.

Both understood that they had to make sure that the house was empty, obviously. But of course using a water jutsu to put it out was not an option, because no matter how weak it was, whatever was left of the structure would come crashing down. And _if_ Sakura's parents were inside… it couldn't be risked.

Sakura immediately formed hand signs. "Kirigakure no Jutsu!"

A thick mist enveloped the house, making the fire less strong. Sakura didn't waste another moment and tied her thin pullover around her nose and mouth before dashing into the place. Sasuke ran behind her into the building, covering his body with chakra in the way Sakura had taught him and pulled his shirt half way up to protect his airways. As soon as he passed the doorway he realized that Sakura had needed to break it down, because it had apparently been locked. He cursed when he realized he couldn't see much around him and had lost sight of her.

"Sakura!" he called through the smoke and mist, grateful once again that he had his family's doujutsu. " _Damn_."

Sasuke realized that the stairs were completely blocked by flaming wreckage and assumed that Sakura had entered the kitchen instead. He quickly looked over the dining room and then decided to check the living room. He tried to suppress the way his skin and muscles screamed from the sharp pain of the unbearable heat. He tried his best to keep his eyes open and forced his feet to advance even though the soles of his sandals were starting to melt. A few seconds later, his crimson eyes spotted a figure that was hunched inside the fireplace. His eyes widened in recognition and his heart almost missed a beat.

"Mebuki!" he ran to Sakura's mother and kneeled down. " _SAKURA_!"

The woman was incredibly pale – to the point where she looked a bit green – even despite the fact that her skin had some burns and a red tint to it. It was a weird color… and Sasuke found it strange that skin would look like that when exposed to fire. Then again, he was no doctor. Another thing he found weird was that she seemed… stiff. Was she… _dead_? He was about to check her pulse and breathing pattern when a voice echoed not far behind him.

"Mom!" Sakura was next to them the next second and gave her mother a once over before signaling to Sasuke that they had to move her out of the house.

Each of them swung one arm over their shoulders and lifted her, hurrying out of the house to the best to their ability. Sasuke quickly assessed their chances. They had already checked the first floor and there was no sign of Kizashi. So that meant he was either on the second floor or in the basement. They would have to clear the stairway for them to pass, and it would take time to do so if the whole thing was on fire. They couldn't just punch through everything when Sakura's father could be right on the other side or risk the house falling apart.

Sasuke could see that Sakura seemed as beat as he was, the pain of the heat having hit them with full force despite the short amount of time they'd spent inside. Sasuke's feet were screaming at him and he had to _force_ his eyes to stay open from the sharp pain. The insides of his nostrils were on fire too; the air was too hot despite the mist that Sakura had unleashed.

Despite how numb his sense of smell seemed to be at that moment… he could still smell it. That weird scent… or more like _stench_. He thought he'd smelt that somewhere now that he could sense it clearly. He looked at Sakura, and decided he needed to bring the issue up as soon as they walked out the door.

"Sakura. Don't you think the smoke smells weird?" he frowned.

"I know." Sakura nodded once as they laid Mebuki down on the street. He could see that she was trying hard not to lose control of the situation.

"What is it? That scent." Sasuke _knew_ that he had once known what that smell was. And he was also sure that Sakura remembered; she did have the best memory in their class. "The smell is getting even stronger now."

She didn't answer his question. Sasuke saw Sakura use her medical chakra on her mother, probably to quickly assess her condition. She tensed for a couple seconds in silence and he felt his heart beating wildly in his chest. Was there something wrong? He looked back to the house.

"I'll go look for your father. Wait here."

"No." Sakura softly laid her mother's head back on the ground. "I'll go."

"Sakura, don't be foolish. You tend to your mother. I'll go."

"I said _no_! Now STAY HERE!" Sakura yelled as she stood up, her patience running thin at this point, and then gripped his forearm tightly.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Why was Sakura so adamant in making him stay? Why wouldn't she want him to go inside? Was she trying to protect him from the fire? Or maybe…

"Sakura. _Tell me_. What is that smell?" Now it was him who held on to her wrist.

"Sasuke, let me go. _NOW._ " She growled.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes when he realized Sakura wouldn't tell him. Why make such a fuss about it at that moment? It was as if he wouldn't survive if he… Suddenly he remembered. He _knew_ what that smell was. "I remember what it is. You're _not_ going."

Sasuke's hands adjusted on her wrists and he pushed her to the ground, using his knees to keep her legs in place. Sakura's eyes widened at his actions, clearly not expecting them, and her chakra flickered as she tried to force him to release her. "Sasuke! Let go _now_! My dad must still be in there!"

He used his own chakra to hold her in place, hovering over her in a forceful way that he didn't like. But then again, she was using her chakra too and if he weren't trying his best, then she would've gotten away. If she entered the house, she would take too long to get to the staircase and then she would also have to search the second floor or the basement. He was _not_ going to let her go and throw away her life like that. He was _NOT_ going to lose someone important to him. Not again. Not after everything.

"Sasuke! I will _NEVER_ forgive you if you do this!" Sakura's voice almost broke at the end.

Sasuke felt his heart clench at her words and at what he was doing. According to his estimation, anyone who entered the house would be caught no matter what. But if he was wrong though… he would be damned. If he was wrong…

Sasuke's will faltered for a moment and Sakura swiftly turned them around, forcing him on the ground and then dashing away from him. Sasuke followed after her, for a moment cursing her speed that almost rivaled his own. He hoped that they wouldn't-

 _BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!_

A huge explosion destroyed what was left of the house, blue flames erupted engulfing the whole building and busting the windows of the neighboring houses. Sakura was flung back and she crashed into Sasuke, sending both of them backwards. They landed on the ground hard and tried to roll away to avoid any serious injuries. Sakura was immediately on her feet and, as Sasuke stood up as well, he saw her throw him a disbelieving look.

After that her disbelief faded away and her face contorted. He _saw_ Sakura's heart break at the notion of what had happened. He saw how she swallowed the cries that were going to erupt. Her lip quivering and her hands clenching and unclenching. Her eyes looked back to her house… or more accurately where it used to be. Now there was only a mountain of debris and the fire was starting to burn off, a consequence of the explosion. She opened and closed her mouth, in an attempt to say something. He could see that she was torn between going back in there or not. She finally turned around sharply and went back to Mebuki, kneeling next to her in order to heal her. Sasuke assumed that she was in a quite a grave state, so Sakura had decided she couldn't lose any more time. And because _if_ her father had been inside…

Sasuke wondered for a moment if Sakura resented him or if she would understand. Did she blame him? Did she hate him? Would she understand his actions? _Did_ she understand that she would've died too in that explosion? No person would be able to survive such a thing; he had known since he recognized the smell of the rather common powder used to polish iron – that was highly explosive at high temperatures. It would've killed her before she even had the chance to heal her wounds.

Sasuke ignored the way his back screamed from the collision after the explosion and walked a couple steps closer to Sakura. He faintly noticed that ANBU had already arrived and that people had gathered around where the house used to be. He watched as Sakura poured chakra into her mother, but she had her back turned to him so he couldn't see her face. He bit his lip, not knowing what to say.

Flashes of his own nightmares appeared in his mind once again. He shook his head and buried them deep in his mind. He then moved back towards the house, knowing that ANBU would grant him entrance no matter what since he was Danzo's student.

Sasuke moved through the debris and amongst the shinobi, his sharingan checking every spot. He wasn't hoping to find anything. He _hoped_ he didn't find anything. That he hadn't been in the house at all. Or that if he did find him… he would be shocked to find that he had somehow survived and would be able to deliver good news. That there would be hope.

However, five minutes later, his crimson eyes found him.

Sasuke's eyes burned and his throat dried up at the sight. He felt the bitter taste of bile in his mouth and had to swallow hard to keep himself from throwing up.

It wasn't good news. There was no hope.

 **-x-**

Her whole body felt numb at this point.

She had faintly realized that Sasuke talked to her to inform her that he didn't have good news. That he was sorry. That she needed to step back and let other people treat her mother. That she needed time to rest and process the whole thing.

The thing was… she couldn't.

As soon as her chakra had passed through her body, she realized that her mother hadn't collapsed due to the heat or the smoke. It had had nothing to do with the fire.

Mebuki had collapsed due to a generalized organ failure that had been started by a poison. A poison that was too common to be traced to someone, but that was still specific enough that only a few could treat it at this stage.

Someone had poisoned her mother, probably both of her parents, and had attempted to cover it up with a fire. Someone that had known exactly how to do it. But at the time she didn't even have the mind to ponder on scenarios of who it could've been. She knew she had some ideas, but she didn't want to dwell on them and threw them to the back of her mind.

Her whole body, mind and chakra was devoted to keeping her mother alive – and keeping herself from falling apart. To maintaining the function of the basic organs, to try and gather the poison in one part of her body. She was grateful that Sasuke had forced ANBU and medical staff away as they walked into the hospital, knowing that she didn't want anyone else to treat her mom.

Sakura did know one thing that she needed to do. She couldn't have ANBU inspecting the incident. She couldn't afford to have Danzo finding out about her life. What if he had had something to do with this? She _wouldn't_ be able to deal with that on top of everything else. She was capable of handling the healing. For now, she would do things herself and later she would make decisions… but first.

"Mom. Can you hear me?" Sakura spoke to her as she passed her hands over her ribcage. "Mom."

Sakura used water to extract the poison from her system, grateful that the nurse that had been there to help had left to gather some supplies and hadn't seen the poison being extracted. The dose had been high, which meant that her mother must've collapsed only seconds after being poisoned. God, the poison had _almost_ killed her. Sakura had known that if she had taken only a couple minutes later, it would've completely severed her nervous system. To the point where not even she would've been able to do something about it.

After making sure that no poison remained in her mother's body, Sakura moved her hands in order to heal the damage. She took her time healing each organ, starting by the most critical ones and moving towards the following. Her chakra expertly mended the damage in the tissues until they were as good as before.

However, the nervous system was something else. It was just as complex as the immune system, and the damage that had been inflicted couldn't be healed overnight. It was a long and arduous process and just thinking about it made her stomach churn. Just _how_ were they going to manage from now on?

"Mom." Her voice came out hoarse after hours of working in silence in restoring Mebuki's health.

Sakura didn't know why she was expecting Mebuki to answer, because she certainly would be out for a while. But she had wanted so _badly_ to hear her voice. To know that she wasn't alone in this. That she hadn't lost _both_ of them.

 _Oh, god. Dad._

A sob broke through her throat and she clutched her mother's hand tightly. She didn't want to even think about it. Her father. He was gone. Irreparably so. Her mother would be devastated; she had no other family left aside from Sakura herself. And s _he_ was devastated herself. How could she pretend to even be a proper support for her mom?

Her world swirled around for a moment and she realized that she was dangerously low on chakra. Training with Sasuke, walking through the fire and healing her mother for hours had done a number on her. But she couldn't pass out at this point; she _needed_ to be there when her mother woke up. If there was one thing they would need, it was to be there for each other. She would also rather watch the first couple of hours of her development herself, no matter how she felt.

Sakura shakily stood up and took a deep breath. She wiped away the stray tears that she hadn't managed to hold back and tried to look as good as possible; _no one_ was sending her home. She repeated that thought over and over again like a mantra, to prevent her mind from straying to other issues. Her trembling legs carried her to the door and she opened it to find that the hospital was quite empty since it was late at night already.

"Sakura-chan…"

She faintly registered the voice through her numb mind. She stopped slowly and looked up to see Naruto standing there in the waiting room. She met his gaze and noticed that his eyes were glazed over. He approached her and rested his arm around her shoulders softly, as if he were afraid to startle her.

"How is she?" Naruto swallowed. "How are you?"

"I… we'll be fine." Sakura nodded, trying more to convince herself than Naruto. She had the mind to look around for a second, her gaze already blurring, and noticed that Naruto was alone. "Where is Sasuke?"

"He ah… was still here just a couple minutes ago. He just left to do something and told me to keep an eye on you. Tch… that bastard. Who does he think I am?" Naruto tried to force a smile, as if a joke would somehow enlighten her day. Sakura sighed tiredly, not even wanting to pretend to like the joke. Naruto's smile faded and he frowned.

"Naruto, I need to get something. I'll be back soon."

"I'll come with you!"

"It's not allowed." She shook her head, feeling a throbbing in her brain at the movement. The lack of chakra was already getting to her. "Just… wait here."

"Ok…" Naruto frowned for a moment, and then engulfed her in a warm hug. "I'll be right here, ok?"

Sakura absentmindedly nodded and started striding down the hallway towards the stairway. She had always been in favor or not keeping chakra restoring pills for the personnel inside the hospital, since its side effects always managed to cause trouble when it came to workaholic medics. She now wished she hadn't, because she would have to go down to her personal stuff to get one. She wouldn't last another thirty minutes otherwise.

Her legs moved on auto-pilot as she walked through the doors that led to the part of the hospital that she dreaded the most. But at the moment she couldn't really care about any of that. She just needed to get an energy boost to keep going.

Sakura tiredly fumbled through her keys until she found the right one, her head throbbing almost constantly. She missed the keyhole a couple times until she managed to open the locker room that only she and Shizune shared. Completely forgetting to close the door behind her, she walked to the door of her own locker and lifted the keys to find the one she now needed. She found it and-

Her body was suddenly slammed on the floor, her head banging pretty hard on it, and her whole body was held in place by a strong grip. Sakura felt disoriented for a while and had to clench her eyes shut for a moment until the pain in her skull stopped. She couldn't feel any presences since she was out of chakra, but she knew well who it was. The horrible feeling on her skin at his presence always notified her of him. With the front of her body and her face flush against the floor, she forced her eyes to open and look behind her.

"Well, well. If it isn't Sakura- _chan_?" Kabuto formed his trademark cynic grin. "I didn't know you had a shift tonight."

"I _don't._ " Sakura grit her teeth. "Get _off._ "

"Oh, that explains a lot. No one would show up in _that_ condition to work, would they?" he mused. "Then again, weren't you taught not to wander around at night when you're defenseless?"

"I _said,_ get _off._ " He didn't move an inch and Sakura growled. If she had any chakra left, she would've punched the life out of him by now. If her wrists had been free she would've _even_ considered released her Yin seal to punch him away. Because she sounded tough aloud… but her heartbeat was skyrocketing as fear gripped her. What was Kabuto doing here at this time? Why had he come to find her? Why was he holding her down like that? " _What_ are you doing?"

"Oh! It's nice of you to ask." His hands clenched around her wrists. "You see, it's come to my attention that you haven't been a good girl at all lately."

Sakura's head had cleared a bit and she had enough conscience to act innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

" _Ooh,_ but you do. You really thought you could sneak around without me finding out?" he smirked when her eyes widened. "You know me better than that."

"Tch." Sakura averted her eyes, knowing that there wasn't much she could say or do. She honestly hoped that the bastard just left her alone at the moment.

"In fact, you've been misbehaving quite a lot lately; your attitude, your relationship with Sasuke, you wanting to talk about the time travel, you _sneaking_ around my stuff. So I thought I'd come and have a little talk with you."

Sakura widened her eyes again. How did he know she was planning on telling Sasuke about it? "I don't want to _talk_ to you right now." She set her jaw and glared at him.

"Oh, don't worry. You don't need to say a thing. In fact, I might've explained wrong. There won't be any talking happening tonight." His eyes darkened.

Sakura felt her heart drop, the stress of the day making her will break. Just what was the snake planning? Whatever it was, it had to happen on another day. Any other but this one. "Just… some other time. Not today."

"How innocent of you! You don't get to decide… besides." He pushed her head further into the floor and leaned down to speak into her ear. "The best time to win a battle, is when your rival is at their lowest."

Sakura was about to say something when Kabuto straightened up as he pushed her arms deeper into her back. One of his arms moved from her wrists down her back, making her try to jerk away from him. His hand stopped at the hem of her ninja pants and took it in a firm grasp.

Sakura gasped in shock. "What are you _doing_?!"

Kabuto said nothing and instead started pulling her pants lower, his hands brushing against her skin and making horrible chill do down her spine. Her eyes widened and she looked back at him only to see that he was looking into her eyes with sick satisfaction. In one swift movement, her pants were down to her knees and, to her dismay, her underwear had gone down with it too. Her lower half was now exposed to him and she hated the fact that his eyes were watching her intently.

" _STOP!"_ Sakura squirmed under his hold to no avail, since her body had already been on the brink of passing out since she stepped into the room.

"You might want to reconsider your rebellious actions from now on." Kabuto's now cold as ice voice spoke into her ear and she felt like throwing up.

"Kabuto, I'm warning you!" Sakura's voice almost failed, her heartbeat crazy in her chest. Not Kabuto, not that _sick_ bastard. Not _him._ After everything he'd done! Tears welled in her eyes and she hated the fact that Kabuto was watching her break.

"Oh. How I'm going to enjoy hearing you scream in pain." He laughed lowly. He gripped her ass hard and Sakura yelped. "Sasuke must be enjoying himself."

"Don't you _dare_!" Her salty tears were now trailing into her lips and she found the taste to be rather unsettling.

"I know what you're thinking, Sakura- _chan_. Don't think for a moment that I wouldn't consider it." Kabuto explained. "But I'm a practical man. I _wouldn't_ waste such a chance on mundane things."

"What?" she frowned and looked back into his eyes.

"Oh, no. What I have in store is something so much better." Kabuto removed his hand from her and took out set of a brush and ink.

Sakura watched in shock as he started drawing something on the base of her spinal column. Wanting to prevent him from doing so, she moved around constantly until he hissed in annoyance. His fingers sent out chakra and numbed the control over her body further, temporarily messing with her chakra channels. When he was sure she wouldn't be moving anymore, he started drawing again. Sakura tried to picture what it was, and she could tell it was some sort of circle, but nothing else. Just _what_ was he writing on her?

 _That bastard!_

Not soon afterwards, he was done with the writing and put the ink and brush away with his free hand. He then turned his face to look back into her eyes.

"From now on, there will be rules. First rule. You will stop looking around my stuff and acting against my will. Second, you _will_ stop that thing you have going on with Sasuke _and_ you will find a believable way to do it. And last but not least. You won't speak, imply, or hint towards anything that might reveal something key we learned in our past lives or the fact that we traveled back in time." Kabuto took a pause. "Or you will take those memories to your grave."

Kabuto started forming seals with one hand at lightning speed. Sakura was sure that he was capable of at least making jutsus without the need of them… unless maybe if it was an S-rank. Also, there was something familiar about some of the seals, but through her numb and overdriven mind she couldn't decide where she'd seen it.

Sakura was dismayed and terrified with what was going on. She had to do something about this! He was going to fuck everything up! But she _couldn't_! She couldn't help but glare at him with all her might as if it were going to help in some way. She could already feel her body failing her as the numbness spread further. _Damn you, Kabuto! I hate you so much! I will destroy you! Just wait!_

After at least a couple _hundred_ seals, his palms slapped on the fuinjutsu he'd drawn on her. Searing pain shot through her, making her every nerve feel as if it was being torn apart. As if needles were piercing every part of her body inside out. She didn't want to scream like Kabuto had said, but she had absolutely no knowledge of what was going on. All that registered in her mind was the searing pain. For some reason, her mind was taken back to the pain she'd felt when she traveled back in time all those years ago.

Images of her life passed in front of her eyes, until she stopped at the previous events of that day when her parents were attacked. A lone thought hit her at that moment.

 _Was he the one who did it?_

Before she could think anymore, her consciousness drifted away and everything became black.

 **A/N: OK! So… hell.**

 **I'm so sorry for doing that! Sakura must definitely hate me by now… oops.**

 **I'm currently not at home, so I'll just make thus author note real short.**

 **Please tell me what you think about this! About Sasuke's POV, about WHAT happened to Sakura's parents. About what Kabuto did later in the hospital…**

 **It was huge chapter and I'd love to know your thoughts on it!**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **And also, thanks to my beta reader for her help!**


	43. Aftermath

**A/N: I don't usually put notes before the chapter. However, I feel that this is necessary due to some comments on Sakura (** _ **this**_ **Sakura). This is a bit long, I'm warning you.**

 **While many think that they like the fact that Sakura is flawed and makes her more realistic, many others have pointed out that she sometimes is weak. And annoying.**

 **First of all, Sakura was** _ **always**_ **like that in canon. She** _ **won't**_ **change overnight.**

 **What does mental and emotional strength mean? In my opinion is the ability to find happiness despite the hardships of life** _ **and**_ **be able to stand up for whatever you want or believe in.**

 **Now, Sakura isn't exactly fully like that, is she?**

 **Sakura has been through a lot in this story. But she still hasn't found the strength to overcome it all. The year after the Juubi that she had to go through did a number on her. The fact the she's been losing dear people to her did too. Sakura knows that she lacks strength sometimes; she's not stupid, she's just young.**

 **I wonder if those who complain about Sakura actually know a young person with the resilience and strength to do all she's done without flaw. Do they even know many older adults who aren't "weak" every once in a while? Does every adult you know stand up for what they know it right or do they live in contradiction? I don't think I know anyone who completely lives through their ideals, because even the most anti-establishment people I know do use cellphones and computers (build and assembled by Asian children on slave-wages).**

 **I hate the fact that most anime tend to show a "hero" (just like Naruto, which is why I kinda like Sasuke more) that show no flaw. Who easily overcomes his issues. Who** _ **always**_ **finds strength and never fucks up. How real is that? You do realize that it's only like that on shows right? Or do you judge people by the same standards in real life?**

 **I don't want people to think that I** _ **like**_ **the fact that she is "weak", but I think I'm being fully realistic. People don't become stronger overnight. They also don't become strong with just age. People become strong when they overcome the hardships of life. Key word;** _ **overcome**_ **.**

 **I know** _ **great**_ **people. Strong willed, wise and kind. But I've seen them get there or at least heard the story of their lives. It was hard… just like it's been for Sakura. Because life is not easy on her either, but she will learn from it. Sakura will soon hit bottom, which will be the breaking point (like, probably somewhere in the next few chapters). She will become strong** _ **through**_ **everything she's lived.**

 **The same works for couples. Having a partner is not a paradise. Couples that can't deal with what life throws at them break up pretty easily. I've seen countless couples breaking up after their first kid because it's hard raising a child together, and people lack the will to work things out in the long run.**

 **How do you imagine Sasuke and Sakura will become a** _ **real**_ **couple? – Not a couple where all that matters is how attracted they are to one another, how much fun they have together and a barricade of other clichés. Not a couple where people bail as soon as things get complicated. – They will become strong as they learn to pull through life.**

 **If you think that I hate Sasusaku because I've been throwing things at them, then don't. Because at the end of this story you'll see what Sasuke and Sakura will have become; individually and together.**

 **LOL at least I hope it turns out well in the end!**

 **Thanks for reading this huge author note. Now, on with the chapter.**

 **CHAPTER 43**

The dull throbbing in her head awoke her despite the way her body screamed to go back to oblivion. The pain was making her dizzy, but she still managed to feel a hand shaking her shoulders. She mustered whatever strength she still had and forced her eyes to open, the white light of the hospital blinding her for a moment.

"Sakura."

Her eyes took a moment to focus, since she was having a hard time refraining from violently flinching at the pain she was feeling. Sakura decided to heal her head-ache, since it wasn't allowing her to even think clearly. Her hands shakily moved to her temples and she allowed chakra to flow into her skull.

"Sakura."

Ah, she recognized that voice. As the ache subsided she managed to pull the pieces together and relaxed in his presence. She finally forced herself to look up at him, his whole body screaming worry.

"Ka – _cough_ – Kakashi." She managed hoarsely, as she noticed that they were in a rather empty service hallway on the ground floor of the building. That was _not_ where she last remembered being, so Kabuto must've moved her. She took another deep breath and spoke up through her pain. "Why are you here?"

"I heard what occurred and wanted to see you." Kakashi spoke sullenly and then eyes her with worry. "What happened to you?"

"…" The whole world was fuzzy and moved in circles around her.

"What happened, Sakura?"

"…" Sakura opened her mouth to tell him but stopped midway. The pain in her head didn't stop her from considering the risks this time. What if the seal reacts to her saying it aloud? She didn't even know what the consequences were. "Where is Kabuto?"

Kakashi's lone eye visibly frowned and he put a hand on her shoulder. "What is _wrong_ with you? You shouldn't be worrying about him now."

"…"

"What happened with Kabuto?"

"Nothing." Sakura answered too quickly and Kakashi's eye narrowed a bit.

"Why did I find you passed out on the floor?"

"I just woke up here…" Sakura explained carefully, not wanting to sign her death sentence just yet. Sakura tried to stand up, but the pain didn't allow her. It was true, her whole body was aching by now, but the pain on her lower back was above everything else.

Kakashi pulled her up and helped her to remain standing when he noticed how much pain she was in. Something had happened and Sakura was hiding it from him. His lone eye narrowed at the thought. He looked around for a moment to make sure there was no on around and pushed Sakura into a janitor's closet gently. She threw a questioning look at him, but he simply closed the door behind him and then revealed his sharingan.

"What?" Sakura questioned as she tried to keep a straight face and supported herself against the wall. Her face was covered in sweat and she had a hard time keeping a steady breathing pattern, he could tell.

Kakashi simply pushed her slightly back and, before she fell, he supported her weight again. His sharingan immediately figured where it was hurting her so much, and it turned out it was on the base of her spinal column. He looked into her teary and slightly dazed eyes and spoke up.

"I'm sorry." As soon as Sakura was on her feet again, Kakashi turned her around and lifted her shirt as he pulled the hem of her pants down on her backside. His eyes widened.

He had been expecting some sort of wound, obviously. Or a bruise. But… a seal? Before even as much as a second had passed , Sakura jerked away from him. Nonetheless, his sharingan had caught the pattern perfectly.

"What on earth… Sakura, he did this right?"

"I-" Sakura felt an incapacitating pain on the base of her spinal column again and she gasped, struggling for air. Her knees had been shaking so bad under her weight and finally gave out. She fell down on her knees.

"Sakura! Hang in there!" Kakashi held her shoulders tightly and then embraced her. "God… I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Sakura would've liked to speak whole sentences, but her throat was in a knot. Her body felt like it was on fire, a burning sensation deep inside her guts and every part of her.

"I'm sorry. For your loss." At Kakashi's words, Sakura's face darkened; she hadn't even had time to process any of it. "For not keeping an eye on you, for not realizing that you would do what you thought was right no matter what I had told you. For not being watchful when you are the _only_ person dealing with the enemy inside the village."

Sakura heard Kakashi's voice breaking and wanted to tell him not to be sorry, that it wasn't his fault. But before she could find the strength to tell him, he spoke again.

"I had decided to help as much as I could with the Akatsuki, because I wanted to give you space. It had been exactly what I had needed after the second war… so I decided to let you heal and focused fully on dealing with this." He sighed. "I was wrong. You're different than me. You don't need to be alone to get over things… you actually needed someone who understood you, right?"

Sakura smiled softly and felt Kakashi's arms squeeze her tightly. Suddenly, the world turned over as dizziness took over her. The corner of her vision turned black on the edges and her body started trembling more. Sakura knew that she would pass out again. Swallowing the bile that threatened to rise up her throat and forcing herself to speak the nausea, she looked at Kakashi.

"I- Kakashi. My… mom, watch out… for her."

"I will." Sakura felt a load off her shoulders and felt herself pulled into the darkness again. Before she fully lost consciousness she heard Kakashi speak again. "And we'll find a way to get rid of that seal."

 **-x-**

Sasuke pushed the images of his past and of his nightmares to the back of his head as he strolled down the hall. He couldn't afford to lose his cool, not now of all times. He needed to get this over with quickly and go back to Sakura. Sasuke knocked on the double-doors and, without even waiting for an answer, opened them and walked into the office. Danzo looked up from his paperwork and frowned at his student, clearly not liking his attitude but already used to it.

"Sasuke, what brings you here?"

"Shishou." Sasuke's cool voice was sharp in the darkened room. He usually didn't use that suffix unless they were alone. "I assume you've heard what happened to Sakura's house… and to her dad."

"I have."

"It's strange. I have the feeling that something was off with whatever happened back there." Sasuke mentioned.

"ANBU will look into it; it's the regular course of action." Danzo said in his usual cold tone. " _Don't_ expect me to play favorites here."

"Let me know what you find out." Sasuke bit out. "As soon as you do."

Danzo smirked; despite him demanding absolute obedience from everyone else, part of him had always liked the way the Uchiha was ruthless and fearless when facing authority. "Fine."

"There's something else." Sasuke got a raised eyebrow from Danzo. "Her house was burnt down."

"I am aware."

"And her mother is injured."

" _Yes._ " The fifth had never been one with lots of patience.

"Are there any available places for them to stay until they figure this out?"

"As in village property?" Danzo narrowed his eyes. "I _told_ you. I don't like playing favorites, much less with someone that has no special place in this village."

"Well, _what_ do you propose?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes in return. He understood Danzo's logic, but it aggravated him how he never truly related to anyone's pain.

"Do you know how many people have lost their houses in the village I run?" Danzo huffed _._ "You can't possibly expect us to solve every one of their issues. Haruno's family – and house – is civilian and the shinobi commanddon't have any obligations to assist them. They will have to figure out a way out of this on their own."

Sasuke had always known that civilians had no real privilege in Konoha, but it still angered him to no end that there wasn't any kind of help for them. For her. "If her family had been shinobi then you would've done it?"

"Maybe if they'd been a prominent shinobi family. I don't like making favors like that, but strong shinobi families are a pillar to this village. I can't just let them move away from here." _Or turn on me_ was implicit in his sentence.

"She has no other family. Both her parents migrated to Konoha on their own." Sasuke explained, but Danzo didn't budge and his eyes bored into Ssauke's obsidian ones. "Is she supposed to live on the streets?"

"Well, aren't you concerned about her." Danzo didn't seem too happy saying that aloud. "Why don't _you_ take them in?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly at that. Danzo was well aware that he wasn't allowed to do so. Unless… "They will need a regular place to stay for a while – we both know it'll be longer than a couple weeks or even a couple months – and they will have to use my address for legal issues. You _are_ aware that Uchiha property can't be used like that by someone from outside our clan. Lest the head agrees to it, of course."

"And you aren't of age to decide such a thing yet." Danzo knew what Sasuke was hinting at. "Are you asking _me_ for permission? You want my signature to allow the _Haruno's_ to live in Uchiha property?"

"You know I am." Sasuke bit out, knowing very well where this was going.

"We've been over this once." Danzo deadpanned. "This little romance of yours shouldn't go that far. The Haruno girl is not right for you."

"And I told you that it's not your decision to make."

"It's called _guidance._ " Danzo sharply emphasized the word. "She's rebellious, impulsive and emotionally swayed. What kind of leader marries a woman like _that_? She also doesn't seem like the kind of woman who will quit her job to raise children. If she doesn't do so, _who_ will? You can't give up the duty as the head and you can't have brats with no direction to lead your clan in the future."

"I've heard this already."

"And you still want to take this step – which might never be undone – despite all of that." Danzo's jaw was set, his eyes blazing in irritation. "You're not old enough to decide. And you're making a mistake."

"I know all of your reasons. But I don't plan on leaving her on the streets if that's what you're expecting. And no one else in our team has enough space to take them in." Uchiha Sasuke wasn't easily swayed, just like Danzo. "Thank you for your _guidance,_ but I've made up my mind."

Danzo stared down at Sasuke for what seemed like an eternity, but the teenager didn't budge and stared back at the Hokage without as much of a flicker of doubt. Danzo wasn't the kind of person to be questioned _ever,_ but Sasuke had never really cared. And for some reason, the older man seemed to have some kind of soft spot for him – as soft as Shimura Danzo could get anyways, which wasn't much to begin with.

"This is not what _your_ father would've wanted, and you know that." Danzo's voice sounded almost tired instead of its usual cold or angered tone. "But I have a village to run, so I need you out of here."

The fifth took out a scroll, wrote down a couple lines and put his signature and a stamp at the bottom. He handed it to Sasuke wordlessly, who walked up to the desk to receive the document.

"Thank you." He said simply. Danzo said nothing and went back to his paperwork, ignoring the young Uchiha as he left the room.

The mention of his father perturbed Sasuke a bit and it threatened to flash images of his death in his mind. Sasuke managed to get himself under control and half cursed Danzo for bringing Fugaku up. Nonetheless, Sasuke had to agree that – sadly – Danzo did kind of remind him of his own father and they probably did think in a similar way. There _were_ differences between them – Fugaku had never been _as_ cold as the fifth – but there was an uncanny resemblance. The kind of resemblance many important leaders amongst the villages shared, that he had seen firsthand as the apprentice of the Hokage. Danzo, Hiashi, Fugaku, and the council were good examples. They all had some kind of… dark mindset that Sasuke didn't quite share. He sometimes imagined himself becoming like that when he was older; like another version of his own father. Sasuke had to admit that it unsettled the _heck_ out of him.

Also, Sasuke knew that Danzo wasn't quite wrong in what he was saying about Sakura. She _was_ what Danzo had pointed out – the old man had some sort of sixth sense when it came to figuring people out. She didn't quite fit in the regular role of the head of an important clan. Of course, Danzo simply saw all of those traits as something _bad_ , instead of also seeing the good in them. But he was still right when he pointed out that Sakura probably wouldn't play out the traditional wife role as well as other women. Sasuke didn't really know what to think, because although one part of him _agreed_ with Danzo, another _disagreed_.

What _would_ happen if he were to marry Sakura one day? – a day that shouldn't really be _that_ far off given that he's the last Uchiha in Konoha – What if she wasn't up to fulfilling the duties that traditionally came with it? Did _he_ even agree with the way things had always worked? How could he even decide if he wanted things to be the same or change when he hadn't had the chance to see what being the head truly meant? Would they be able to build a family that worked like her own did and still manage to build a clan from scratch?

Sasuke didn't really know, but he pushed all of the doubts to the back of his head. It was not the time to make plans for the future or question his relationship with Sakura. Sasuke focused once again as he neared the hospital.

He quickly opened the front door and almost bumped into Naruto. His eyes widened when he noticed that Sakura was passed out on his back and he felt his heart skip a beat. Sasuke quickly assessed her and found that she didn't seem injured, so his eyes turned to Naruto again.

"What happened?"

"Kakashi just handed her to me. He said he'd found her passed out on the hallway and said she needed to rest." Naruto explained with concern written all over his face. "I don't really know what happened… but I guess it's chakra exhaustion. Kakashi said to keep her away from the hospital and let her rest."

"Away from the hospital?" Sasuke frowned. "Why?"

"It doesn't make sense, right?" Naruto had a thoughtful expression on. "I guess it's because being in the same building as her mother won't let her recover. Knowing Sakura she'll completely disregard her need for rest and go nurse her mom as soon as she wakes up."

"Totally sounds like her. I'll take her home with me." He said and motioned for Naruto to pass Sakura on to his back. Naruto raised his eyebrows at the Uchiha. "She's going to stay at my place until they find another place to live in."

Sasuke half expected Naruto to make a joke about how he shouldn't take advantage of her in that state. However, it seemed that even the dobe had some sense in him because he passed Sakura to him without any kind of teasing. Sasuke adjusted Sakura on his back and looked back at Naruto.

"Take good care of her and call me if you need something."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded. "What about Mebuki?"

"Kakashi will be staying here at the hospital. I'll go see if we can arrange something in Sakura's place." Naruto didn't even want to use the word funeral, because it seemed he hadn't yet processed the fact that Kizashi had passed away.

"Do you even know how to?"

"Err… Maybe I'll switch places with Kakashi." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "If there's anything you need, just ask. Ok?"

Sasuke nodded and took a few steps away from Naruto. He then looked back over his shoulder and looked at his retreating back.

"Naruto." His voice made him stop. Naruto turned around and he seemed a bit surprised that Sasuke had called him by his name. "Thank you."

Naruto beamed despite the sadness that shone through his eyes. "I should be the one thanking you, bastard. Just take good care of her, will ya?"

Sasuke smirked back at the blonde and then headed back home. Sakura's body felt hot on his back and he wondered if it was his biased perception of her or if she truly was too warm. He got to his front door soon enough, fumbled with the keys as he tried to open up with one hand. He finally got in, closed the door behind him with a foot and then walked to his bedroom. His spare bedroom wasn't prepared to receive a guest, so she'd have to sleep in his own bed for now.

Sasuke laid her unconscious form down and frowned when he got a closer look at her face. It only now dawned on him that her face was flushed, a deep red on her cheeks, forehead and nose. He put his forehead to her own and his eyebrows shot upwards when he realized that she had a fever. Sasuke knew that fever was one of the symptoms of chakra depletion, but he had never really had to look after anyone in that state. Fortunately, he kept some basic medical supplies so he got the thermometer and took her temperature.

"Shit." Sasuke cursed when it read 39.5°C (A/N: 103°F) and frowned.

He knew that fever was usually controlled with dampened clothes, but this was way too high for that. So, he instead found a glass of water and some medications. He pulverized them, put them on a tea spoon and then sat down next to Sakura. As soon as he lifted her head however, Sakura's eyes shot open and darted around in confusion.

"Sakura. You have a high fever and need to take some medication." Sasuke explained and Sakura frowned for a moment before she flinched in pain and then gasped as another wave hit her.

"No-no." Sakura shook her head and took a deep breath in. "No medications... at all."

"Why?" Sasuke frowned. "Your fever is too high."

" _Don't._ " Sakura clutched her hands to her chest and clenched her eyes shut as she felt pain all over her again.

"Why are you in so much pain? I don't recall that happening to anyone from chakra exhaustion." Sasuke frowned and then resolve shone through his demeanor. "You don't look fine at all to me. I'm taking you to the hospital."

" _Don't._ " Sakura spat through clenched teeth. "No… hospital."

" _Why?"_ Sasuke was half irritated and half worried. "No medications? No hospital? _Look at you!_ "

Sakura wanted to tell him, to explain to him that whenever a seal was taking control of a body, medications would usually only make it worse. That he couldn't take her to a hospital, because they would surely find out about her seal and she wasn't capable of deciding whether that was good thing or not. She couldn't tell him _because_ of the seal and also, because of the pain. So, she just looked into his eyes and grasped his wrist.

" _Please._ " Sakura felt another wave of pain get a hold of her and she had to let go of him. Her body fell back onto the mattress and she looked up at him once again. "Trust… me."

Sasuke bit his lip and looked down at the floor under his feet. Sakura _was_ a great medic and she would surely know what to do. But why not go to the hospital? That was just plain suspicious. Then again… Kakashi had also instructed Naruto to keep Sakura away from the hospital. Sasuke growled and combed his hair with his finger.

" _Fine._ " Sasuke sighed. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

Sasuke walked out of his apartment and stood for a moment in front of his neighbor's door. It was barely the crack of dawn, but she _did_ seem to wake up as early as he did so he knocked on the door. A couple seconds later, an old lady opened up and her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Sasuke-chan?" her quivering voice called out his name as she adjusted her glasses. Sasuke felt the urge to groan at the suffix, but decided he didn't have time for that. "My, my! What a delightful surprise. I haven't seen you in such a long time."

"I'm sorry to bother you. But I need to ask for some advice, if possible." Sasuke politely explained. He wasn't usually that respectful, but being rude to someone as old as _her_ somehow felt wrong.

"Oh, don't worry. Tell me about it."

"How can I lower a high fever without the using any medications?"

"Oh? Are you sick, son?"

"It's not me." Sasuke sighed. "I'm looking after someone."

"Oh… a friend?" the old lady asked and Sasuke was quiet for a second. "Maybe… a girl?"

"Yeah." Sasuke admitted.

"Oh dear." She giggled. Sasuke looked at her in exasperation and she smiled in surrender. "All right. First of all, the most important thing for the fever to be more manageable is that the heat is stable throughout the body. So, you ought to keep her warm, especially the feet." Sasuke nodded and listened as she described at least a dozen of home remedies he had never heard of. "Finally, if the fever gets too high and you need to control it quickly, a warm bath can help a bit. But it might not be enough in the long run."

Sasuke bowed a bit and thanked her thoroughly before he turned around and went back into his house. He heard Sakura groaning from the bedroom and he decided to check his kitchen. He didn't quite remember _every_ instruction, but he did remember what was needed. Sasuke opened _every_ drawer and cabinet, but he didn't have _any_ of the ingredients she'd mentioned. No lemons, no onions, no butter. Sasuke did have more than was expected of a man living by himself, but he certainly wouldn't have as much as his old neighbor. He could always go and ask her for ingredients… but he would rather not bother her again. It was bad enough that he'd knocked on her door at such an ungodly hour. Also, shops would be closed for another couple of hours.

Sasuke walked to the door that lead to his bedroom only to see that Sakura looked as bad as before. It seemed that he would have to try that last method. He went to the bathroom, opened up the cold water to fill the tub, went back to his bedroom and looked down at Sakura's form. He felt a bit uncomfortable doing this while she was passed out, but it had to be done.

He opened a drawer and took a big shirt that he didn't use. He sat down next to her form and pulled her into a sitting position, making her lean against his chest so she wouldn't fall over. He pulled her shirt off and put on his oversized one, making sure not to look at her as he did. When the shirt was down to her hips, he worked to unclasp her bra from over the shirt. When he finally managed to do so, he moved her so she was sitting between his legs and pulled her ninja pants down along with her underwear. A small blush managed its way to his cheeks and he cursed himself for his unwanted nervousness. When it was all finally done, he pulled her to a standing position and pulled her arm over his shoulders.

"S-Sasuke?" Sakura's voice was faint.

"You need a bath so your temperature will go down." Sasuke stated.

"Ah…" Sakura faintly nodded as Sasuke led her to the bathroom.

Her body was trembling a bit due to the fever and she still groaned in pain every now and then. Sasuke stopped next to the bathtub and lifted her over it. However, as soon as her feet touched the water Sakura gasped in shock.

" _Uh_! It's cold!" She shivered and her body shook as she struggled to get out of it. The shock seemed to wake her up slightly, but it wasn't enough to get out of Sasuke's hold. "Sasuke!"

"Just… get in there, Sakura." It felt a bit wrong forcing her into the water, but it had to be done. "It's necessary, ok?"

" _No!_ It's _cold_!" Sakura yelped as he pushed her down into the tub. She tried to move out from the water, but Sasuke pulled her down until she was soaked to the chest. " _Sasuke_! Get me out!"

"Sakura!" Sasuke pushed her down again. He was drained from the hard day they'd faced, but he was still so much stronger than she was. "You said _no_ medicine, right? Your fever is too high!"

"But it's _cold_!" Sakura shivered quite violently at the feel of the icy water on her skin and her pleading eyes met his for a second. " _Please_!"

Sasuke swallowed down the guilt that he felt from seeing her frame shivering and her face morphed into an expression of pleading and angst. Sakura stopped talking to him, but she kept struggling nonstop against his strong hold. Sasuke wondered if she was having some sort of delirium due to the high fever, because it seemed she wasn't capable of understanding what he was doing. Of course the water would be cold; he wanted her fever to go _down._ His hands held her down from the shoulders for almost two minutes. He had hoped that this would help somehow… but the unexpected happened.

In a short span, Sakura's shivers became increasingly violent to the point where she was convulsing in the tub. Sasuke panicked and his eyes widened in fear. He took her out of tub quickly and wrapped her up in the towel as he held her convulsing body against his frame. The water was soaking through his own clothes as well and her long legs were completely bare to the hip, but Sasuke was far from caring about that.

"Shit! Sakura!" He called, but Sakura was completely out of it – or completely unable to answer. " _Sakura_!"

Flashes of his parents' death flashed in front of his eyes and he swore aloud once again. Their faces covered in blood and paling from blood loss – the images of the genjutsu that had haunted him for years – were hard to shake off, but he _had_ to. He couldn't afford to go down that road right now.

Sakura's hands managed to shoot up and she clenched his arms strongly. Sasuke was about to jump up and take her to the hospital no matter what she'd said, but he then felt her body start to calm down a bit. Her eyes were a bit disoriented and spoke between gasps.

" _Warm._ " Sakura croaked.

"Warm? You need something warm?" Sasuke spoke with angst in his voice, still worried as hell.

"Warm… water." Sakura forced words out.

It then dawned on him. _Warm_ water. _That's_ what the lady next door had said to him. Why had he used cold water? Obviously he had assumed that it would make her temperature go down and had completely forgotten the exact words. He wanted to punch himself for being so careless, but he guessed that in his nervousness he hadn't really thought straight. Then again, he was a _shinobi,_ not a freaking nurse.

"Ok, ok."

Sasuke made sure Sakura's still shaking form was well wrapped up and then drained the cold water from the tub. He then turned on the shower and, when he was sure that it was _warm_ – not hot, not cold, no more mistakes – he helped Sakura get inside again. As the warm water ran down her frame and started filling up the tub once again, Sakura's body went back to normal. When she looked up into his eyes there was a frown in her face.

"I told you that it was _cold._ " Sakura complained as she regained some consciousness.

"I know. I thought that you weren't thinking straight…" Sasuke bit his lower lip. "I thought you were just complaining… I don't know. I'm sorry."

"Ah…" Sakura closed her eyes and allowed the water to warm her up. From the look on her face she was still somewhat in pain. Nonetheless, it seemed that she was aware enough to start worrying. "My mom?"

"Kakashi is watching over her at the hospital. Naruto said he would try to arrange some things in your stead. What happened to you? Why are you in pain like that?"

"Don't worry… it's just something that happened after I used up so much chakra today."

"I've never heard of chakra exhaustion causing pain. Where does it even hurt?"

"It's getting better, trust me ok? Just let me rest until tomorrow and I'll be fine." Sakura spoke and he could tell that she had to strain herself a bit in order to speak, so he stopped asking.

"Fine."

Sasuke wasn't happy. He had the feeling that there was something that he was being kept out of. First of all, what happened to Sakura's house and to her parents… it seemed off for some reason; the locked door, the pale faces, Sakura's reactions to them. Second, Sakura passing out in the hospital and not wanting to go back there even when she was like this. And third, Sakura feeling pain from chakra exhaustion. Sasuke had experienced chakra exhaustion _plenty_ of times and he had also seen some other people going through it, and no one had ever been in pain like that.

It could be that he was just imagining things, that he was just being paranoid. He could be wrong, but for now he wouldn't bury the instinct that told him to be wary.

 **-x-**

Sakura had woken up only half an hour ago just as morning rose after being out for over 24 hours. Sasuke had informed her that he would heat some food up that he had prepared. Sakura devoured the food and it was surprisingly really good – or maybe it was just that she hadn't eaten a thing for almost two days – so she didn't speak a word until she was done with it. When she was done with a second serving she put the plate down and sighed before looking up at him with a tired smile.

"Thank you, Sasuke."

"It was nothing. I had to eat too, so I had to cook something for myself anyways." To be honest, Sasuke seemed quite exhausted himself. It must've been a difficult couple days for him too.

"I meant for everything. Taking care of me, being here." Sakura smiled softly and she swore the faintest tints of red covered the bridge of his nose for a moment.

"Aa."

Silence stretched for another half a minute and Sakura's mind went back to what had happened.

It was infuriating that when she was supposed to be trying to save the world from the Juubi, save Konoha from Danzo and Kabuto… she was being overwhelmed by her personal issues to the point where she felt that there was no space for everything else.

"God…" she covered her face with her hands as she felt the knot on her throat build to a point where she could hardly speak. "My father is dead. _Dead._ And I was too busy making sure my mother would survive to even try to see if there was a change of bringing him back. Sasuke. My _mother._ The damage to her body was so severe… I can't even begin to imagine what she'll have to endure from now on."

"I know." Sasuke's face darkened and he clenched his jaw. "God, I know."

"I… I'll miss him so much." Sakura's voice broke.

Sasuke wanted to tell her that he would miss him too; Kizashi had become close to him after so many years. Sasuke would definitely miss his jokes, no matter how inappropriate they were, and he would miss how the man could see through him no matter how much he tried to keep to himself. He had lost someone who was almost like his own family once again, and the feeling settled bitterly in his gut.

But how could his feelings regarding the death of Kizashi even compare to Sakura's? He didn't really know how to express what he thought and felt, so his arms circled Sakura tightly and brought her to him. She shook from the tears she was shedding and her hiccups echoed in the room. She crushed her face into his chest and her hands fisted his shirt. Sasuke only brought her closer to himself, the feelings of sadness flowing from her to him as she poured her heart out. After a while, she calmed down a bit and her crying stopped. Sasuke was about to pull away from her when she suddenly froze. She pulled back sharply and looked up to him.

"Sasuke… my house was destroyed." Sakura's eyes widened as she realized how bad it was and voiced her worries. "We'll have to build it back from scratch. Where am I going to get money from? What are we going to do until it's finished? My mother won't be able to work for a while… I… how am I going to look after her if we don't have a place to live in?"

"Sakura-"

"I could always sell whatever was left… the lot our house was built on. It may be enough to last for a couple months…" she started thinking about numbers and her eyes squinted in concentration. "But what about medical expenses? I can only imagine how much we owe to the hospital at this point… and what about everything that is to come? I could go on as many missions as possible and take double shifts in the hospital and… wait. What will I do with my mom if I'm working that much? I-"

" _Sakura._ " Sasuke called with a stronger voice and she was brought out of her musings. She looked up to him with a frown. "I have it sorted out."

"You… you do?"

"Yes. I don't have access to my clan funds yet, so I can't really help with money. But… the two of you can live here until you get back on track." Sasuke explained.

"What? Here with you?"

"Yes."

"Is that allowed?" Sakura frowned.

"Not really. But I got Danzo to sign a permission, so there won't be any problems."

"Sasuke… I don't want to be a burden for you." Sakura bit her lip. How was she supposed to break up with him – Kabuto should burn in hell – when she was living under his roof? How horrible would that be?

"You won't."

"I know… but… it's a big step. And… it's not your responsibility."

"I want to help." Sasuke explained simply. "Besides, what other place can you think of? Naruto's place is tiny and it can't hold more than one person. Kakashi's place is just as small and, if I recall correctly, Anko is living with him now."

"What about Ino?" Sakura thought aloud.

"Are you two really that close?"

"Not really…" Sakura looked down. She really wasn't _that_ close to Ino in this timeline. They were friends… but not that close this time around. She had gone to Suna for two years and hadn't really spent that much time with her ever since she came back. Tenten and Lee were pretty poor and probably didn't have space for anyone else. She also wasn't really that close to them either…

"You also don't have any other relatives here, do you?"

"…"

"I don't understand why you're against this." Sasuke frowned. "It's the best option. Your mother and I get along just fine and there's a spare room for the two of you. Also, I live by myself so it won't be imposing on anyone."

Sakura bit her lip. She didn't really have a choice, did she? She had heard how hard it could get when going through something like that, and even though she hadn't really gone through that herself she was sure that paying for rent aside from everything else she had to do… would be simply impossible.

Also, what about Sasuke? She didn't want him to feel forced to do this. She didn't want to see him every day after she broke the news to him. He would probably regret offering in the first place. How was she even going to tell him? How could she break up with him without making him think that she was acting suspicious or pushing everyone away because she was in pain? He would know something was up and he _wouldn't_ leave it alone.

Also… she didn't really want to do it. She didn't know if she would be able to handle seeing the hurt on his face when she did. Or if she would be able to deal with him walking away from her. She wouldn't be able to deal with the pain of breaking up now, especially when she still loved him so very much. It was so damned selfish of her to think of her own pain… but she couldn't help it.

Also, seeing him now… Sakura couldn't help but feel incredibly lucky to be with him. He was the image of loyalty and dedication. He wasn't one to show what he felt like everyone else… but she could see that she meant a lot to him. That he was willing to be next to her at this moment no matter what. He didn't deserve it. She couldn't turn him away. She didn't want to. She wanted her and Sasuke to be together. For him, for herself. If she broke up with him now and somehow convinced him that they should stay that way… there was a chance that there would be no going back.

Maybe… she would be able to find a way around Kabuto's rules for now? Her mind went on overdrive at the thought, and Sasuke's eyes bored into her own waiting for an answer.

Kabuto _had_ said that she was supposed to end the _thing_ she had going on with Sasuke, referring to their romantic relationship. Then again, Sasuke and Sakura had never _stated_ that they were together. The only thing that could be seen as a _thing_ was kissing or making out, because they didn't even hold hands. Actually, they strictly hadn't defined their relationship so it could perfectly be understood as friends with benefits. Of course, Kabuto was referring to that as well when he said _thing._ But maybe… she would be able to avoid having to kiss Sasuke or doing anything a lover would do until she found a way around that seal. After all, her hands _would_ be full from now on and Sasuke wasn't the type to expect much physical expressions or affection, much less initiate them.

That could work, right? _Right_? She would act as if nothing had changed between them and do her best to avoid acting like a girlfriend. She would just act like a close friend. And maybe Sasuke wouldn't notice the difference if she dealt with the seal soon.

With a faint feeling of hope, Sakura looked up to meet Sasuke's waiting eyes. She wondered how long she had been spacing out.

"I didn't want to bother you… but it seems you're right."

Sasuke sighed. "You're _not._ I want to help, I told you."

"I know." Sakura smiled honestly and her eyes softened as her walls finally came down. "Thank you, Sasuke."

"You don't need to thank me. Also, I know you would do the same for me."

Sakura smiled. Yes she would. She had no doubt about it.

 **-x-**

Sakura awoke with a start – for the umpteenth time that night. Despite the exhaustion and the way her eyelids were begging to close again, she looked around the room not knowing exactly why she had woken up. She had been sleeping on a mat on the floor and on the bed next to her was her mother. Mebuki's most critical 48 hours had gone by and she had been release from the hospital. Sakura had known that it was not enough at all, but the expenses would be too great for her to pay to stay at the hospital so she had been forced to take her away as early as that. To be honest, Sakura hadn't been comfortable with her mother being in the same building as Kabuto… in the hospital the _he_ ran.

On one hand it made her feel more at ease… she was safer here. But it had been merely a few days since she had moved her to Sasuke's place – the spare room he had cleared for them – and Sakura wasalready tired. Mebuki was still barely awake, and still not conscious at all. But she would wake up at all times during day and night in pain. The way the poison had damaged her nervous system had caused her to feel sharp pain _countless_ times a day. Sakura had been forced to be in a constant state of alertness to tend to her, and not being able to sleep at least one continuous hour was getting to her.

True, Sakura had been through war and had been on missions. She had been on eighteen – and longer – hour shifts and she had lived through the devastation of the Juubi. However, she had _always_ had at least a couple hours to sleep. When she had been faced with the issue of taking her mother, she had worried about money and about how she was going to find time to work. Of the pain and the rehabilitation her mother would have to endure. But she had _never_ imagined the toll it would take on her to not get any sleep at all. To not have at least fifteen minutes to sit back and forget that her mother was lying there in pain. To not have the time to sit down and have lunch for half an hour.

The worst part of it all was that her mother had missed her father's funeral. Sakura had been heartbroken to know that Mebuki wouldn't be able to experience that closure and would wake up to find out that he was already six feet under. She had been worried that she herself wouldn't have the chance to assist – because how the hell was she supposed to leave Sasuke's house? Thankfully, Naruto had somehow managed to plan a fairly good ceremony and Kakashi had offered to look after her mother while she attended. Ino had helped with the flower arrangements and had also arranged a grave. She was lucky to have friends who were there even in the worst of times; who shone brighter when they were needed the most.

Thankfully even after all those expenses, Sakura had been able to pay for the supplies and equipment needed for her mother. It had taken almost every penny that she'd acquired from selling the lot where her house had been, but she had managed. Of course, in order to sell it quickly enough, Sakura had been forced to sell it well under its commercial price. Also, since her mother was in need of constant care at the moment, she hadn't been able to take any shifts at the hospital nor any missions.

So Sakura was now officially broke and homeless. Not to even mention the fact that she had her mother to take care of, which took up almost all of her time. She didn't really know what she would do from now on. She felt stuck and trapped. And how the hell was she supposed to do anything regarding the Akatsuki and Danzo like _this_? How the hell was she even supposed to make money, train or rest? She didn't even dare to think of having spare time to go out.

Sakura had a curious personality. She was the kind of person that always had to be doing something different. Missions, research, grocery shopping, sharpening her medical skills at the hospital. _Anything._ But it had been barely a few days and she felt like she would lose her mind. Of course Sakura knew that what she was doing was a _job_ – it didn't matter if no one was paying her for it – and that it was _needed_. And she loved her mother with all her heart and was willing to do everything to help her, but hell…

Sakura noticed a bunch of notes that were scattered all over the floor of the bedroom. She hurriedly organized them, put them inside the folder and inside the drawer of the nightstand. She smiled softly.

At _least,_ she had her poison research – the one meant for Zetsu. She had bought the supplies months ago and had thankfully left them at the hospital, so she had them with her now. Whenever she had five or ten minutes of spare time, she would drown herself in it. Mostly due to the sense of responsibility to do _something_ about it. But also partly to feel that she was doing something productive and partly to take her mind off everything else.

Off the guilt.

Sakura was well aware that whatever had happened in her house and to her parents had been because of her. There was no way anyone would plan such a cover up for the death of regular civilians like _that_ due to something _they_ might've done. What she wasn't sure of, was _who_ was responsible. Was it Kabuto? Was it Danzo? Was it a Clan? Was it someone else involved that she didn't know of?

Could Kabuto possibly have planned the whole thing? Or did he just take the chance when he saw it? Why did she even give him the chance?

Sakura had been too engrossed in the shock of loss, in the worry for her mother, in the exhaustion after everything that happened, that she had let her guard down. She had allowed him to take her by surprise and hold her wrists in place, preventing her from releasing the seal on her forehead. Then again, is she had used her seal, what would she have gained if she had stopped Kabuto from putting a seal on her? She would've been exposed nonetheless and she would've been forced to leave Konoha and her mother. And who would've taken care of her then?

Nonetheless, Sakura had been too careless.

Careless wasn't enough. Stupid. Naïve. Over confident. Sakura had thought that just because she played the part of the hero things would work out in the end – just like in novels. That there were no consequences. Now she knew better. Now she somehow understood why things never really changed even when everyone knew that a nation or a village was fucked up. People knew what the consequences were and they knew that the chance of actually achieving something were too slim. So everyone kept quiet and minded their own business. Sakura was too idealistic – Sasuke had told her countless times – and she was impulsive. A fatal combination for someone like her in a world like the one she lived in.

For someone who claimed to be as smart as she was, she was also plain stupid. Or maybe she just lacked experience. There _was_ a reason why leaders were usually old people. They knew better. They had seen the worst of the world and they had learned through a lifetime of hardship and struggle. And Sakura wasn't old; she was barely a young adult. And yet, it felt as if the world was on her shoulders.

Another sound broke her from her thoughts and now she knew what it was.

 _Sasuke._

She scurried to her feet and looked at her sleeping mother one last time before leaving the room in a hurry. As soon as she opened the door, she heard Sasuke's soft groaning from his bedroom. Another nightmare. Guilt bit down on her once again, because she was aware that it hadn't been happening until a few days ago.

Opening his door without any preamble like she had done the first time around, Sakura walked into his room and kneeled next to his bed. Sasuke's face was scrunched up in distress and fear, his breathing labored, and he was drenched in sweat. She could tell that he had been having a hard time sleeping for a long time because the room smelled. She shook his shoulder softly, trying to awaken him without startling him.

"Sasuke. It's just a nightmare."

" _Stop!_ " Sasuke thrashed a bit in the bed and her hold on his shoulder tightened a bit.

"Just a nightmare. Wake up."

" _No!_ "

"Sasuke! Wake _up_!"

Sasuke opened his eyes suddenly, his sharingan ablaze, and he looked around frantically with a stiff posture. When his eyes finally landed on Sakura, his body relaxed and his eyes softened.

"Sakura?"

"Yes. It's me. It was just another nightmare."

"…again." Sasuke sighed dejectedly.

"Yeah. It's not real."

"It _was_ once." Sasuke closed his eyes in grief and buried his head between his bent knees. Sakura didn't know what to say, so she kept quiet and just sat there with him. "I'm acting like a goddamn kid. Thank you for waking me up and don't worry about it."

"Sasuke…"

"I mean it." Sasuke almost snapped.

"Sasuke…" Every time he had woken up from a nightmare, he had thanked her briefly and told her to go. She had done as he asked up until then… but she wasn't happy about it. Sasuke was the kind of person who always wanted to be in control of his actions, to always be strong and collected. He _hated_ being vulnerable. The person he was most comfortable around was Sakura, but he still hated being seen like that. "You don't have to hide what you're feeling."

"…"

"It's not good for you."

"It's not right though. I can't be making this about myself now. It's _you_ who is entitled to break down now, not me." Sasuke's eyes flashed with shame and guilt, and Sakura felt her heart break.

"You're wrong! Everybody is entitled to _feel_ what they're feeling." Sakura frowned. "You have been through so much during your childhood. You've been holding everything inside for the longest time, Sasuke. If there is _someone_ entitled to break down, it's _you_."

"Sakura…" Sasuke's eyes softened at her words.

"I would feel worse if I knew you were going through something like that and kept it all to yourself." Sakura steeled her emerald orbs as she looked into his now obsidian ones. "I want to help you too. You're not the only one who cares here."

"I know." Sasuke smiled and she felt his hand close around her own. She wondered for a moment if that could be considered something that friends would do – the damned seal was still on her – and decided that it probably was.

"Sasuke, you don't have to force yourself to be strong all the time. Not around me at least."

"You wouldn't understand. You're not a _man._ You are a girl, and no one judges you when you cry. No one thinks there's something _off_ with you because you show feelings. Men don't have that luxury."

"It shouldn't have to matter!" Sakura frowned. She knew what he was talking about, but in his particular case it seemed like an excuse to hide behind. She believed that the reason he didn't allow himself to be vulnerable wasn't just that. "You don't have to act 'like a man', not around me. I don't care about how much virility you show on the outside. I can see the person who you are inside, and you don't have to hide any part from _me._ I don't care if you act 'like a girl', I don't mind."

Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment and he seemed surprised to hear that. "You don't?"

"Of course not. Do you care about how feminine I am all the time? Do you expect me to be a vulnerable princess all the time?"

"Not really."

"Do you expect me to become a killing machine and stop caring about people the way I do?"

"No. Hell no."

"Then why the hell do you think I care about that? You are who you are and who you decide to become, Sasuke. Not what people expect you to be. I don't care about _them_." Sakura finished, hoping that somehow it would help Sasuke open up. She saw something flicker in his eyes as he stayed quiet for a while. "You can always let go around me."

"After everything… in my life… I…" Sasuke's expression broke and his eyes showed deep frustration and misery as he looked into her own. He swallowed hard before speaking again. "I don't know if I can anymore. I'm scared."

Part of Sakura felt great sadness at his words. Sasuke had been alone for so long. He had lost everyone to the hands of his dear brother. Sasuke had felt forced to dedicate his life to revenge and had built walls around him. Walls that would protect him from someone else like Itachi – or who he thought Itachi was – and would ensure that his feelings would be safe. That the broken child that still hid inside wouldn't be seen and it wouldn't make him vulnerable. That the strong feelings that were inside of him – thankfully they still existed – wouldn't show unless they showed an image of strength.

However, part of her felt proud that he was deciding to open up. That he was fighting his demons and his insecurities. That Sasuke would grow stronger – truly stronger – once he faced his past. That he had admitted that he was scared. Hell, _Uchiha Sasuke_ had just said he was _scared_. Aloud. Of course Sasuke wasn't scared of what people would _think_ , because he certainly didn't and wasn't about to show his weakness to anyone. No. Sakura knew damn well what he was feeling. Because she had seen how Sasuke had become once it had been too much for him in her past life. The Sasuke in her past life had lost control when the self-image he had built of himself had fallen apart. She _knew_ that this Sasuke was scared to lose whatever control he had in his life if he let go. Her eyes watered up and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"I know how you feel. You can't lose control of yourself. You have to remain the good shinobi you are not just because your life is on the line when on a mission, but also because you want revenge. Because you're the last of your clan and you have to live up to that. Because one day you will become the head and you'll be faced with the titanic responsibility to build it up from scratch. With everything that comes with it." Sakura almost flinched thinking of what business the clan heads had to endure between one another and towards the council. "I _understand_ why you simply can't afford to lose control. I _know._ But Sasuke, don't you think that it'll destroy you? Don't you think that one day you won't be able to do it anymore?"

"Of course I think about that!" Sasuke retorted. "But what can I do? I can't lose control now nor can I in the future."

"Listen. I know that everyone needs to be in control at least some of the time. You have bigger expectations on that… but it doesn't mean that you _can't_ show any weakness."

"I just told you I can't."

"You said you can't lose control. It's not the same." Sasuke had a puzzled look on his face. "You can show weakness while you're in control. You don't have to show weakness to just anyone. You don't have to expose yourself to the world. You can choose when and to whom to show it."

"Someone like you?"

"If you want to." Sakura smiled softly and held his hand tighter as she wiped her tears. "I know you had no one for the longest time… but now there's Naruto and I. There's Kakashi, Shikamaru. You don't have to keep everything to yourself anymore."

"I don't know if I can even bring myself to _try_ that in front of them…" Sasuke looked up to her and the intensity of his eyes startled her. "But… you're different."

Sakura felt warmth all over her chest and she held his hand with now both of her own. "If you want to, I'm here. You know that."

"I know." Sasuke frowned. "It's just… I don't know if I can. Sakura. It's not just that I'm scared that I might lose control. …I don't think I _remember_ how to let go. I don't know if I would be able to even if I tried. I don't think I even remember how it feels to have tears in my eyes."

"You don't have to force yourself. Take it slow and it won't take over you." Sakura smiled and wiped the tears on one of her cheeks. "And for now… I have plenty of tears for the both of us."

"That's so cheesy." Sasuke chuckled, but his eyes were soft. His right index went to the bottom of her left eye and left it there as some tears gathered on it. Then he took his hand back and wiped the tears on his own eyes as if they were tears of his own. "There you go. You better not have pinkeye or something."

Sakura laughed at his remark and then pulled him back into the mattress. Sasuke looked up at her with curious eyes but complied nonetheless and allowed her to pull the covers up to his neck. "Now, go back to sleep."

Sasuke waited for a couple seconds until he felt Sakura's fingers comb his hair softly. "Aren't you going back?"

"I'll stay for a moment."

Sasuke smiled a bit and closed his eyes. The way Sakura's fingers caressed his scalp somehow made him feel like a kid again. Had his mother used to do that too? It had been so long since he last saw her that he wasn't sure anymore. Nonetheless, the feeling was something else. It sent barely noticeable shivers down his spine – the good kind of shivers – and he felt his body increasingly relax. Before he knew it, he had fallen back asleep and that night, he didn't dream again.

 **A/N: I know I took so long to update. A month and a half.**

 **And it will be like that from now on. I'm sorry. A** _ **good**_ **friend of ours is running for congress and he's plain poor so we're all doing his campaign out of good will in our free time.**

 **Anyways, at LEAST the chapter was long. 10k! Right?**

 **Kakashi is kinda back, isn't he? He will play a bigger part from now on (I know he hasn't for a while).**

 **Sasuke is, as usual, rebellious towards his teachers. However, you can somehow feel in the scene with Danzo that Sasuke doesn't really despise Danzo. AND that Danzo has somehow a soft spot for Sasuke. I wonder how** _ **that**_ **will play out later on. Also, Sasuke does take into consideration what Danzo says about Sakura. Part of him thinks he has a point, while another one disagrees.**

 **I also put the fever part to show something from Sasuke's POV where you can see how the memories from his parents' death were starting to affect him again. ALSO, I know so many people who don't really know how to treat fever without medication. Honestly? If some of you didn't know, now you have some ideas! (I can barely stop the mother-hen in my nowadays LOL)**

 **The last scene is my first attempt at reconstructing Sasuke's character on present narration. He already** _ **had**_ **changed during the two years that Sakura was away, so we didn't really see much of that change of mind. However, this Sasuke still has issues and they still haunt him (Sakura is not the only one who has them). I honestly think this Sasuke and Sakura compliment eachother quite well because while Sakura is impulsive and emotional – but also in touch with how she feels and capable of expressing it all – Sasuke is closed off and a bit of a control freak (in my opinion). I think they can help eachother out and find some balance.**

 **I know I'm kinda replicating the traditional male and female personality issues/archetypes here, but they FITTED into the characters that had already been created and that I borrowed. If anyone is to blame for strict gender roles in them or whatever, it's Kishimoto and not me (oops, no flaming intended in this comment). I don't – by any means – mean to imply that men and women are always like that or should be. In fact, in my case, I used to be a lot like Sasuke when I was in my mid to late teens. (I'm a female writer, in case you hadn't noticed) – no I was never violent or a psycho, but used to have many traits of this Sasuke.**

 **I'll just stop ranting now.**

 **So, tell me what you thought about the chapter. I know it was mostly character development, but I do think this was an important evolution nonetheless.**

 **Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing!**

 **And, as always, thanks to my beta-reader for doing a great job!**


	44. Two more Allies

**CHAPTER 44**

In her youth, Sakura had always been such a critic of people who cowered when in face of injustice or corruption – not that she had really grasped what that meant to its full extent back then and maybe she still didn't. Of people who gave into fear, who would rather turn a blind eye on things and continued on with their lives. It now seemed that, somehow, those people had known all along what they were playing against and had been smart enough to stay out of trouble.

Or maybe… they just didn't really know at all and just went on with their lives. Maybe their actions were mostly ruled by disinterest rather than fear. Sakura didn't know which was worst for people as a whole, but she damn sure knew what was worst for _her._ She _had_ been both disinterested and naïve for many years and she as sure as hell would rather go back to _that_ then live like this.

Fear is a powerful thing, it has to be. It's meant to be a means of survival; keep you away from trouble. But fear could also make you freeze up, make wrong decisions and let it consume you. It can turn you into an easy target of someone who cannot rebel and act towards freedom. Of course, Sakura had been trained and she had learned to use fear to her benefit in battle. But it was just _so_ different to be afraid in your own village, in your own house.

Of course, Sakura hadn't lost her mind and wasn't paranoid. The fear she felt was like a tiny feeling in the back of her head that made her constantly feel like she was forgetting something. And that something was that there were enemies on the inside. And that she had already let her guard down once, and someone had struck and had won the battle. That someone was still a big unknown on her list, because even though she leaned towards Kabuto she couldn't assume anything. Not anymore.

Sakura was well aware and was now more realistic about her situation. It wasn't just herself; there were others who could be harmed by her foolishness. People she cared about; people like her father. Sakura had _somehow_ come to terms with his death; maybe it was due to the fact that she had already lost her parents once and being with them had felt like a dream for some time after her time travel. But there was still her mother. And Mebuki was not only a civilian, but she also was bedridden for the moment. And Sakura could only imagine how many chances they could see to finish their work in that situation.

All in all, Sakura was afraid, but she was quite well considering everything. She was also too tired and too busy to think too much about what _could_ happen, so she was just focusing on not fucking up again for the moment. The subconscious fear didn't really affect her regular life and she tried not to think about it too much. She also didn't want to seem _too_ affected by everything, or she might be sent to see a psychologist – which was something she definitely wanted to avoid. Not just because of how little time she had nowadays, but also because she didn't want to risk being found out.

So far, the only person that generally knew what she was going through was Kakashi. Today they would be meeting up for _the first_ time since the attack. Sakura hadn't been able to leave to house for a while after the incident since her mother needed someone with medical training there. Only now that things were getting better, Sakura had found time to leave. The first thing she had decided to do was meet Kakashi for 'training'. And so here she was, lying on training ground three and looking at the clear sky. When she finally heard footsteps the opened her eyes and nodded towards her sensei in greeting.

"Yo." Kakashi sat heavily on the ground, a dust cloud appearing around him.

"How are you?"

"Ahh… I guess the same as always." Kakashi said with a bored tone. A few moments passed before he decided to ask in a much more intense voice. "Sakura… how about you? How are you feeling?"

"Ah… I'm not that bad I guess." Sakura sighed. "I'm sad and tired, but I'm still kind of hopeful, so I guess I'm quite good considering."

"Yeah, sounds promising." Kakashi smiled and rubbed Sakura's shoulder kindly. "You know, we only ever meet for training and talking about job-related things now. You should know that if you need to clear up your mind or talk about how you're feeling…"

"I know." Sakura smiled.

"We could always go for ramen." Kakashi lifted his index finger. He obviously wouldn't offer to pay, not for Anko or anyone else.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled and then turned serous again. "So… about that thing on my back."

" _Ah._ The thing on your back." Kakashi nodded once. "Yes. I looked into it."

"Really?" Sakura's eyes lit up. "And?"

"I don't think I have good news." Kakashi sighed.

Sakura felt her heart skip a beat. Would she never get rid of it? What was its purpose? She swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"First of all, it's a really _really_ complex fuuinjutsu. I know that it's tied to the user's chakra and that it has something to do with behavior or speech – like the ones the Hyuugas use."

"You don't know what the _exact_ limitations are?"

"Not by just looking at it. No." Kakashi sighed. "It's a really complex seal _and_ I'm pretty sure that it's S-ranked. There's no way I can do something about it. If anyone can, it's a fuuinjutsu master."

"Jiraiya."

"Yes. But as you know he's broken all contact with the village. We can't contact him from here, and even from the outside it'll be difficult."

"Damn…" Sakura bit her lower lip. "Kakashi I need to do something about this. I… this whole thing is getting out of hand."

"I know. Listen, I'll be going on a long-term mission again."

"Again?" Sakura's eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah, it seems Danzo has some kind of special consideration for me. He either considers me a good shinobi or is wary of my loyalties."

"Let's hope is the former…"

"Anyways, I'll be gone for at least a few months. So I'll try to look for Jiraiya while I'm out there, but I can't promise anything."

"Will you be acting as team leader?" She asked with a frown and Kakashi shook his head no. "It'll be dangerous. What if someone finds out?"

"Well… I know it's dangerous, but we can't just leave that seal on you, can we?"

"No." Sakura's eyes darkened. "Listen to me now, Kakashi. I _do_ want to get rid of this. It's making everything harder. But you _won't_ throw your career or your life away because of it."

"Sakura, I owe you this. I-" Kakashi suddenly felt younger than her.

"No. Listen, I would be grateful if you helped me with this. However, I would rather live with this thing for the rest of my life than see you have your life destroyed. You are like family to me; you have been for five years in this lifetime and for another five in my previous one."

"Sakura…" Kakashi's eyes softened. He was so proud of having Sakura as his student. She might feel useless and weak at times, but he could see her true value. She had a golden heart.

"Promise you will only look for Jiraiya if you are in no danger of getting caught." Sakura took both of his arms and clasped her hands around them tightly. " _Promise._ "

"All right. I promise." Kakashi agreed.

Sakura smiled. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Sakura. It's the least I can do after letting you deal with this whole thing on your own."

It was a funny thing how the only facial feature Sakura could see from Kakashi was his lone eye, but it still managed to express so much. He felt guilty and he was worried. He wanted to do something for her and act like a real sensei.

"Sakura. I want you to look after yourself while I'm gone. If something happens while I'm gone there won't be anyone to do damage control if you can't. Sasuke doesn't know about this yet, does he?" Sakura shook her head. "What about Naruto?"

"No one knows about my time travel aside from you."

"Good. Keep it that way until we find a way to undo what Kabuto did."

"You seem to have forgotten that I _can't_ speak about it even if I want to."

"Ah…" Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "My bad."

"Oi… Kakashi." Sakura asked suddenly. "How have you been? I've only been making everything about myself lately."

"Well, that's obvious since my life is too boring." He stopped for a moment to think. "Ahh… well. I don't think there's anything new. My life is about going on missions, doing some mentoring every now and then to you guys, and spending time with Anko."

"How is everything going with her?"

"Fine." Kakashi smiled. "She moved in with me a couple months ago and it's been good to have company."

"Really?" Sakura's eyes lit up at the good news. "Well, don't forget to ask properly when you propose to her."

"Don't go there…" Kakashi pretended to be annoyed by her words, but she could see the faint blush near his visible eye.

"Just trying to give you some advice." Sakura smirked playfully, but then all hints of playfulness left her face and she took Kakashi's hand in her own. He seemed a bit taken aback by the trespassing into his strict personal space, but said nothing. Sakura looked at him with soft eyes and squeezed his hand. "I honestly hope you can find happiness, Kakashi. I think Anko is good for you, even though she has a particular personality."

"She does…" Sakura could see it in his eyes that Kakashi loved that about Anko too. "Thank you, Sakura."

"Well, let's not let things get awkward! How about we get some actual training done? I haven't trained in like a _month._ "

"Don't blame me if you're out of shape." Kakashi smirked as he stood up, mirroring her actions.

"Don't underestimate me."

 **-x-**

Sakura tried to make sure the grocery bags she was carrying were balanced or she would end up dropping everything. Her feet carried her along one of the commercial streets of Konoha back to Sasuke's apartment. She was hoping to get back as soon as possible or they would end up eating lunch at 3 pm, which was too late given the early breakfast they'd had. However, life never went the way she planned. She sighed when she felt someone's presence nearing and looked back.

"Sakura!"

"Tenten. How are you doing?" Sakura smiled.

"Fine, fine. How… how about you? I heard what happened to your family and haven't seen you ever since. I'm so sorry about what happened."

"Ah… well. I'm not too bad all things considered." Sakura smiled, because it truly wasn't that bad.

"Let me help you with these bags."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Nonsense." Tenten said and took one without waiting for an answer.

"Uh… ok thanks." Sakura didn't really want to talk to Tenten at the moment, but she couldn't just reject her help like that.

"So… I heard you're living with Sasuke now." Tenten smiled when she saw Sakura blush slightly. "I'll take that as a yes. You're not sharing the same room, are you?"

"Of course not." Sakura frowned. "You know how clans are; you're Neji's teammate."

"Yeah." Tenten deadpanned. "At least you're with someone you trust. I imagine his help must be invaluable."

"It is." Sakura smiled as she looked ahead. "We would be out on the streets if it weren't for him. He has helped looked after my mother. And he has been helping out with expenses too… I can't thank him enough."

"You're lucky to have a good man like him." Tenten said and then turned to look at Sakura. "And he's lucky to have you too."

"Me?" Sakura's eyebrows shot up.

"Of course! You're the complete package; I can tell you really care about him _and_ you're a good person." Tenten smiled widely, but there was a glint in her eye. "You're such a good person that you would risk everything to do the right thing."

Sakura inwardly flinched, knowing where this was going. She looked around quickly and realized that they already were in a rather empty side street. But that didn't mean they were safe. "Listen, Tenten-"

"Sometimes doing the right thing has consequences though. Right?" Tenten eyed Sakura from the corner of her eye.

"Not necessarily. Sometimes events are not related to one another." Sakura answered swiftly. Of course Tenten would be wary and think that what happened to her family could be related to what they were looking into. Sakura certainly didn't need Tenten looking into her private life at this point.

"Ah. Maybe. After all, anyone would warn their friends if they were in danger, wouldn't they?"

Sakura froze in the middle of the street and turned to fully look at Tenten. She now could see it in the brunette's eyes; Tenten was scared. She was afraid that what happened to her family would happen to her or someone she loved. And she had reason to. After all, they _had_ been looking into what apparently were dark secrets about some very powerful people. If they were to find out, they could take action. Sakura might've never considered this in the past, but she now wouldn't put it past them to kill or blackmail someone who seemed like a threat to their power and stability.

Suddenly it hit Sakura. What if Tenten was right? What if they had been found out and it _was_ a message sent to all three of them? After all, Sakura was the only one who had a family. Sakura couldn't simply disregard the possibility of the murderer being someone hired by, say, the Hyuugas. What if Tenten and Lee were in danger too? Would it be fair of her to pull the two of them into this mess and then not let them know that there _had_ been something wrong with what had happened to her parents? That it had not been accidental by any means.

"I…" Sakura swallowed and made sure to send out her chakra to check their surroundings before answering; she couldn't risk someone overhearing her even if she was now whispering into Tenten's ear. "Tenten. My parents were attacked. I don't know who it was… but we can't be sure."

Tenten frowned in worry. "Damn…"

"I don't know if we should be meeting anytime soon."

"I don't think we can." Tenten bit her lower lip. "For a while."

"Just for a while." Sakura nodded.

"Sakura." Tenten's eyes were pleading. "Be careful."

"I will. Make sure Lee knows about this. This is my stop."

"Ok." Tenten handed Sakura her grocery bags. "See you around."

"See you around."

 **-x-**

Sasuke walked into his apartment to find it filled with the scent of a delicious meal. He felt a smile pulling at his lips. Ever since Sakura and her mother had moved into his place he felt… he felt… Sasuke wasn't good with words. But there was now a sense of normality to his life. He didn't feel like coming home was like returning to a cage, or crawling back into his hole. It was… nice. Something he hadn't felt for almost a decade. It felt like a home, not just a house.

Sasuke took off his shoes at the entrance and walked into the living room. His eyes immediately fell upon Sakura, who was scrubbing the floor clean. His neutral look turned into a frown when he noticed the bags under her eyes. He sighed and walked towards her.

"Sasuke!" she looked up and smiled at him despite her tired demeanor. "You're back."

"Hn." He nodded at her. "What are you doing?"

"Uh… cleaning?"

"I _know_. I mean _why._ " Sasuke noticed she was going to answer the obvious question and quickly added. "Stop that."

"Stop what?" Sakura sighed and stood up. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Sasuke passed a hand through his hair. "Look at you. You look like shit."

Sakura could've taken it personally, but she knew Sasuke meant no harm. He was just… hopelessly honest. "Well, what do you expect?"

"Sakura. I'm not _blaming_ you for being tired. You haven't gotten a proper sleep at night for a month. You're busy all day long helping with your mother's recovery. When you're not doing that, you're either at work or doing the housework."

"Yes. I know what it is I do all day long."

"This is ridiculous. You don't even see the point I'm trying to make." Sasuke took the cleaning cloth from her hand and pointed at her. " _You_ need to rest. _Stop_ overworking yourself. You're unbelievable."

"Sasuke… I know. But you have to put yourself in my place."

"That's what I'm doing." He deadpanned.

"No. You don't _understand_ why I'm doing this. I'm not just doing lots of stuff." Sakura took a deep breath. "Look, you've done so much for us. I don't know how to repay you. I don't have any money since I don't get to work much anymore, and I can't think of anything else you could need from me. So I'm trying to make this place as nice as I can."

"You really are … an idiot." Sasuke chuckled with disbelief. "Sakura. I didn't bring you here so you could become my cleaning lady. I never expected any kind of _payment_ for what I'm doing. I wanted to help, not to hire some kind of housekeeping service in exchange for a room."

"But Sasuke… this is so unfair to you." Sakura frowned. "You shouldn't have to bear this burden too. You don't have that much time to train or study anymore, since I need to work and you're watching my mother during that time. Whenever you're home… you're always investing your personal time in taking care of other people. You and I know that you're also using part of your own money to pay for our bills. Don't misunderstand… I'm _so_ grateful. But I can't help feeling guilty."

"Stop that, will you?" Sasuke held his hand up. "I won't lie. It's not been easy. I'm tired too. It _is_ a lot of work. I-"

"Do you see what I m-"

"Let me finish." Sasuke retorted. "I don't think you're a burden. I'm happy to have you both here. This place was so empty for such a long time… it's a nice change. It's true I don't get time to rest much when I come back home, but this place is livelier than it ever was before. I don't get to spend much time alone, but I get to spend time with you. And I _don't_ think it's not my responsibility… if Mebuki were to become my mother in law someday, she would be. Besides, I'm fond of her."

"Sasuke…" she seemed impressed by his choice of words and he could see a blush on her face.

"Go get some rest, will you? And don't you dare come back into the kitchen until lunch is ready."

Sakura nodded and smiled at him. "Sasuke… thank you."

"Aa."

Sakura walked away with a smile and he heard her fall on his bed unceremoniously. Not half a minute later he could hear her soft breathing, meaning she was already asleep.

Sasuke sighed and quickly finished the spot Sakura had been scrubbing clean. For a whole month he had been coming home from training or missions to find her busy. She was helping Mebuki out; she needed hoursof exercises everyday so her muscles wouldn't degrade. It was either that, or doing laundry or some other household chore. Sasuke was quite bothered by that. It was _his_ apartment and he knew exactly how to look after it. He had been doing it for years.

And it was honestly ridiculous. He could see that Sakura was doing so much, he knew it. But she still refused to stop acting like… she was a bother; always trying to make things up to him. He had told her repeatedly that he would do some part of the housework and he then would come back to find that she had already done it herself. Then again, Sakura had always been like that. The self-sacrificing kind; the martyr. The overworked medic. It made him want to pull his hair out sometimes.

When lunch was finally done, Sasuke woke Sakura up and they served the meal together. Then they took everything to Sakura and Mebuki's room, as usual, and set it down on a side table. Sasuke pulled a chair to the small table for himself and Sakura pulled a small chair in between the table and the bed so she could also feed her mother.

"Hey, mom." Sakura shook her and Mebuki stirred awake.

"Ah. Sakura." A soft smile graced to woman's lips as she greeted them. "Sasuke."

Sakura's mother was still bedridden, but she had regained consciousness and the pain she felt wasn't as bad as before. She could also talk and eat now, so they were feeling hopeful about her recovery. Scratch that. Sakura was sure that her mother would be fine; she was a strong woman. Sakura didn't know if it came with age or experience – probably the former since she liked to think that she'd gone through a lot in her rather short life and she was nowhere near as strong as her mother. She had seen it before during her past life and she had seen it now tenfold. Mebuki had learned of Kizashi's death around a week and a half after the attack. Sakura had been so scared to tell her afraid of how she would take it and how it would affect her health… but had been surprised to see that she was managing. Of course, Mebuki had cried; they both had cried over his death together many times.

"I had a dream about Kizashi." Mebuki commented with a nostalgic smile as Sakura fed herself for a moment. "I remembered when we first moved in together. Your father was obsessed with keeping the house clean. He couldn't _stand_ the sight of dust or anything out of place. A single grain of rice would have him sweeping every spot of the floor."

" _Dad_?" Sakura's eyes widened. "I can't believe it."

"Well… he had to learn to let go of such high standards when you were born. You know… a house with a toddler or a child gets dirty and messy in the blink of an eye. I think you taught the both of us that not everything can be under our control." Mebuki smiled at them. "The two of you remind me of the both of us."

"Sasuke and I?" Sakura was as surprised as Sasuke.

"Yeah. I know we're all very different, but there are some situations that make me think of our younger days." Mebuki's smile grew sadder. "Only we didn't have to break our backs to look after some old lady."

"Mom!" Sakura had known Mebuki was regretful of the situation she had put the both of them in. But she had never said that in front of Sasuke before. Sakura _loved_ her mother and she didn't want her to feel like that. "You're _not_ an old lady yet. You're not even 40 yet! And I want to help you out, you know that. And how would it be fair for you to raise me for years and then have me complaining now, huh?"

"Yeah." Mebuki was aware that Sakura was doing this because she loved her, but it didn't make things easier for her.

"Mebuki." Sasuke's voice startled both females. He didn't usually speak up on his own, but he seemed to think Mebuki was feeling like that because of him. "You're like family to me. I don't feel bothered by this at all. You know I wouldn't have offered otherwise."

Sakura was shocked to hear that and felt tears form in her eyes. Mebuki just smiled at Sasuke and chuckled.

"I'm like a long-lost aunt, right?"

Sasuke smirked at that and Sakura frowned for a moment wondering if she had missed something. Then again, Sasuke did spent a lot of time with Mebuki now. And it somehow seemed to her that he had spent a lot of time with her before too. She had asked about it, but Sasuke had only vaguely answered her question saying ' _I have obviously talked with her. I've been visiting her for a long time_ '. Tch, the nerve of them. To leave her out of it.

"My father was different." Sasuke surprised the both of them once again, their eyebrows shooting up.

Mebuki recovered first. "Fugaku, right?"

"Aa. He was always very strict with us." Sasuke sighed. He remembered how he had always felt pressured by that. "Not just when it came to the state of our house. He never allowed for a thing to be out of place and he always expected out best effort in everything."

"You don't seem to agree with that." Mebuki pointed out.

"I… don't know. I never felt at ease around my family. I realized that when I started going to your place years ago."

"I don't think you're looking at it the right way, Sasuke." Mebuki smiled a knowing smile. "You feel like your father didn't love you unconditionally, right?"

"…maybe." Sasuke was still shy about his feelings. How had she come to learn to read him like that?

"I think you're wrong." Mebuki smiled. "I'm sure they loved you dearly. Your family was head of a clan; they weren't just anyone. When you grew up you would undoubtedly have a lot on your shoulders. If they hadn't raised you to be a perfectionist and strict with yourself… how could they expect you to succeed? Wouldn't they be doing you harm if they hadn't acted like that? If they hadn't raised you to be a man capable of leading a clan, with strict values and impeccable behavior, maybe you wouldn't have succeeded."

"…"

"I don't think your parents were _wrong_." Mebuki explained. "You were just born in a position that expected too much of everyone and your parents did what they thought was best."

"It still feels wrong."

"I don't mean to say that it was _right._ But you have to take into consideration that you were the head family. Maybe what was wrong with that picture was not your parents, but the clan. They were just expected to follow its dynamics and didn't have a choice."

The room suddenly grew very quiet. Sasuke's eyes were trained on the floor and he became lost in thought. He had never looked at it from that perspective. Sasuke had loved his family, but he had felt used by them too. He had thought they had only seen them as heirs of the Uchiha Clan instead of children. But maybe they had just felt forced to act that way.

They had felt forced to be strict and distanced. Maybe his parents had sometimes wanted to have a different kind of relationship, but that wouldn't have worked with their future. After all, Sasuke was now the last Uchiha and he felt the weight of the clan on his shoulders… and he probably wouldn't survive as the head of a clan if he were like Naruto, for instance.

It suddenly hit Sasuke that his parent's hadn't been… perfect. Of course they weren't, he knew that, but he had never actually seen them like that. He had always expected them to be flawless in their choices too. Maybe they were just imperfect and had tried to do their best.

"Ah." Sasuke closed his eyes. "I think you're right. They just tried their best."

The two women in front of him smiled and he felt Sakura's warm hand around his. Her kind emerald eyes shone with joy. He squeezed her hand back and felt suddenly… less trapped. Then he noticed.

Since when did he start conversations about his family? He had never done that unless asked.

Talking about his family had always brought up horrible feelings and memories. He hadn't wanted any of that, so he had refused to even bring them up ever since the massacre. Only Sakura had managed to make him talk a couple of times, but he hadn't usually talked so openly about this in front of anyone else. But this… somehow… he hadn't felt angst when talking about his father this time.

Sasuke didn't know when it had happened or how it had happened… but he felt that he was… somehow he was… _healing_.

 **-x-**

"Oii, Sakura-chan."

" _What._ "

"Come on. Tell me."

"There's nothing to say."

"Ah… come _on_."

"Naruto."

"How could you have been living with Sasuke for a month and a half and _not_ have slept with him."

" _Naruto._ "

"I mean, I'm a guy and all. But if I _had_ been a girl living under Sasuke's roof, I would've definitely done it. He's an attractive bastard, I have to admit it." Naruto scratched his temple. "Uh… don't tell him about that, he'll never leave me alone."

"Ugh…"

"I mean, there are only two rooms at this place. You _must've_ slipped out of your mother's room at night to keep him company."

" _Naruto!_ "

"It would be good for you!" Naruto explained. "Sex is good for your mental health. You know, Jiraiya taught me a _lot._ "

"I don't need to hear about that." Sakura crossed her arms and looked away… but her eyes betrayed her and she eyed Naruto curiously.

"Come on, Sakura."

"We _can't_ do it, Naruto. Sasuke's clan has rules that forbid it."

"Really? _Ouch_! Poor bastard. Well… he will just have to get married soon." Naruto smirked. "Are _you_ okay with those rules?"

"Well… you know I would prefer if those rules didn't exist. But… I understand."

"No way, dattebayo. You're the number one pervy girl out there." Naruto smirked but then the playfulness disappeared from his features. "You should definitely _try_ it sometime… maybe not go all the way. It'll help you sleep better and it'll help you release some stress."

"How can _you_ be so sure?"

"I… well. It's not like I have experience, but Jiraiya has told me all about it." Naruto's face turned dreamy. "Once Hinata and I get the chance, I'll make sure that she never forgets about me!"

"Uh… you do know Hinata is part of a clan too, right?"

"Yeah." Naruto was quiet for a moment. "You don't mean… no. Those damned rules would apply to her as well?!"

"I can imagine. She's the heir to her clan. The _female_ heir."

"Noooooooooooo!" Naruto grabbed both sides of his head. "Sakura, Hiashi will never let me marry her! He's a classist bastard!"

"I know." Sakura sighed. "He doesn't look like a nice man to me. At least from the outside."

"I agree. That bastard is too much of a friend with Danzo."

"What do you mean?" Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"You know all my missions are inside the village only nowadays, so I have a lot of patrol duty. I've seen Hinata's father go to Danzo far more than any other clan leader." Naruto explained. "I don't like that. I don't trust him and I don't trust Danzo."

"Really?" Sakura felt her heart skip a beat. "I don't think you should make such quick judgments."

"Cut the crap, Sakura." Naruto growled. "You _have_ realized that things are fucked up here."

"What do you mean?" Sakura didn't know how much Naruto knew. She quickly checked their surroundings using chakra to make sure they were alone.

"Well… it's pretty obvious after a while. Every time someone wants to point out something against Danzo's policies, _someone_ on the outside becomes a threat. Or someone on the inside becomes a threat. Or someone in our village is destroying our traditions. Those creepy ANBU are always roaming around, questioning people if they're out too late, if they gather in once place for too long, if there's too many people together. What the fuck? Everything because of the Akatsuki and other villages?"

"…"

"It's downright ridiculous, Sakura! Don't tell me you haven't noticed. I _know_ you have. Besides, Danzo and Hiashi must be doing some weird shit, I'm sure, and Hinata is going to get caught up in it when she's older. I've seen how the Hyuugas have been _lucky_ enough to get lots of public investments around their compound. I mean, I'm happy for Hinata right now and all… but it's fishy as hell. Right? _Right?_ "

Naruto wasn't half as dumb as people liked to believe. He was not as smart as Sasuke – who definitely had to know what was going on too – but he was definitely smarter than the average villager. He had noticed something was off unlike most people and he had also not turned a blind eye. Not that she had ever expected him to. But Naruto would be in so much danger if he were to be caught. She was sure that Danzo was keeping an eye on him.

Maybe she would've asked him to join her, Lee and Tenten if she'd realized he knew that much before. But now… well. She didn't want to take any chances for now.

"Look… I think you're right." Sakura explained carefully, knowing denying his suspicions wouldn't be believable. "But you have to be careful. You don't know what kind of issues you might find… it may put you in danger."

"So what?!" Naruto scoffed. "You don't expect me to sit around and watch, do you?"

Sakura suddenly felt like she was in Sasuke's place. "Naruto, I don't. But listen, just please be careful. Try not to get too involved. You know Danzo is observing you because of the Kyuubi and… I don't know what he would do if he found out you were working against him. You must know he's ruthless."

"Ruthless? He's a goddamn fascist."

"Call him whatever you want, and yes, he probably is." Sakura looked him in the eye. "I also disagree with the way he does things."

"So… I can come to you if I ever _happen_ to find anything."

"Yes, yes. And don't trust just anyone… and listen, you have to be careful. Don't… rush into things."

Naruto smiled. "I'll do my best."

Sakura didn't really buy it, but it was only a few weeks later that she would know for sure how much Naruto was actually involved in things.

 **-x-**

"What is going on here?!" Neji's voice was strong and Sakura looked around the street to find him. "Unhand him!"

Naruto, who was with her at the moment, nodded his head towards a spot a few meters away from them where people were gathering and then speed walked that way. Sakura was slightly behind him and was glad for his body hid how her face contorted at what she saw. Six root ANBU were surrounding Neji and Lee, and putting handcuffs on Lee.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Neji was quite upset. "You're taking him without any charges?"

"This man, Rock Lee, has been charged with treason and terrorism against Konoha." A root ANBU explained.

"What?!" Neji's eyes widened. "Nonsense!"

"If you don't back off right now, there _will_ be consequences." The root ANBU took a step towards Neji.

Sakura's eyes widened and she wanted to smack Lee right then and there. Of _course_ the idiot wouldn't leave the issue alone after Tenten told him to. Of _course,_ he would continue on his own and mess up. Sakura quickly assessed their surroundings and cursed under her breath. There were five other ANBU right next to them and ten others not far from them. If this escalated… they would all end up dead or imprisoned.

Neji was about to take another step forward, but Sakura took ahold of his wrist tightly. Neji's eyes widened and he scowled.

"Sakura? _What_ do you think you're doing?"

"Excuse him." Sakura talked to the root ANBU, completely ignoring Neji. "He's just appalled at the idea that a comrade would do such a thing. I'm sure he will accept whatever the outcome is."

The root ANBU said nothing and turned as they all moved out of the street. Neji's scowl got deeper and he jerked away from Sakura's hold, wanting to stop the ANBU as they took Lee away. Naruto stepped in front of him before he could take another step forward.

"Neji, think clearly about what you're about to do." he said, his blue eyes shining brightly.

Neji wasn't going to take shit from anyone, it appeared, so Sakura moved closer to him. Just as he was going to strike Naruto on the jaw, Sakura's fingers touched the base of his spine and sent chakra through him. Neji was paralyzed and he dropped to the ground with a _thud._

Sakura looked at Naruto with a raised eyebrow and he seemed to be doing the same. Their thoughts were clear on both their faces as they looked at each other with curiosity. _What on earth?_

As Neji complained with grunts on the floor, Sakura and Naruto came to a quiet understanding and they each put an arm over their shoulders. They moved out of the village and took Neji to an empty training ground. As soon as they sat down, Sakura lifted her hand to stop them from talking and double checked their surroundings.

"Ok. We're alone." Sakura said with a nod.

"Ok." Naruto said as his eyes darted to Neji for a moment and then back to Sakura. "Um… Sakura-chan. What…"

Sakura lifted an eyebrow and Neji spoke for Naruto as he lay on the ground. "What the hell do you know?"

"What?"

"Come _on,_ Sakura-chan. Why would you be so careful about root ANBU? You've said that you don't know much yourself. I don't think that's true."

"Sakura, there's no turning back now." Neji said.

Sakura took a deep breath in. It seemed that she didn't have a choice. Neji and Naruto seemed to know something too, so she guessed it wouldn't be wrong to share info. "Ok. So… Lee, Tenten and I had been looking into Danzo, the council, and the clans for a while."

"Really?" Naruto's eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah… but after what happened to my parents we kind of stopped. You know… there _was_ a chance that the whole thing had been some sort of warning."

Silence stretched for a moment and Naruto looked down with grief written all over his face. "Damn… Sakura-chan…"

"Don't say anything about it." Sakura's eyes darkened. "I _know._ "

Neji looked down, his anger had faded. "Do you think Lee will have a similar ending?"

Naruto bit his lip. "I don't know."

Neji's eyes were obscured by his hair, but Sakura could clearly see his hands shaking. If she remembered correctly, Lee and Neji had a thing. She could relate to him; she had thought she'd lost Sasuke more than once.

"What about you guys? You _know_ something?"

Naruto snickered. "Lee came to us a few weeks ago in order to take Danzo down." Sakura rolled her eyes; it had been right after she talked to Tenten. _Figures._ "So, we've been kinda working with him for some time now. He was supposed to look into some files yesterday. I hadn't seen him since…"

Naruto looked at Neji, who shook his head, meaning he hadn't had a chance to talk to Lee before he was arrested. "I had just met him on the street just a few minutes before he was taken."

"Now we're all screwed. Tenten, Neji, Sakura and I." Naruto said with dread. "They will look into Lee's memories and-"

"They won't find a thing." Sakura said. "I've put a seal on the three of us, so they won't know who else is involved in working against Danzo."

"Sakura-chan you always think of everything!" Naruto beamed.

"I wish I did." Sakura sighed. "I should put a seal on the both of you too."

"I agree." Naruto said.

"Wait." Neji spoke for the first time in a while. "What about the Uchiha?"

"Sasuke? He's not involved." Sakura explained. "He's too close to Danzo and he will be head of the Uchiha Clan someday… so we had decided not to involve him."

"Sakura-chan… do you really agree with that?" Naruto's eyes were determined.

"I don't like keeping things from him and _I_ trust him." Sakura looked down. She definitely didn't like it. She wished Sasuke knew everything she was doing, everything she'd been through. "But Tenten and Lee barely knew him, soo…"

"I agree. I don't want the Uchiha in." Neji said.

"Neji!" Naruto complained.

"What? You didn't seem to mind when we decided to keep Hinata-sama out of this."

"That was different. I want to keep Hinata safe. I don't want her to be involved in such a thing… it's horrible and dangerous."

Neji snorted. "I can't believe it. Hinata is not naïve, she's _shy._ Do you think that she hasn't been taught how to deal with politics? I can't believe _you_ of all people are underestimating her."

"I'm not!" Naruto scowled. "She's smart! But I don't think she would handle it well knowing the full extent of everything while keeping appearances with her father."

"I still think you're underestimating her." Neji said and Naruto huffed.

"That's not all. You _know_ how Hiashi is! He's always keeping an eye on her and we wouldn't be able to keep it a secret."

"Same goes for Sasuke. He's Danzo's student… do you think he doesn't keep an eye on him?"

"The both of us could be watched too, you know?" Naruto motioned with his hands.

"Yes, but I think the chances are quite lower than that of the future heads of the main clans of Konoha." Neji squinted his eyes. "If none of you have a good defense, I'd like to settle that we keep Sasuke out of this for now."

Neither Naruto or Sakura could think of something for now, so they stayed quiet.

"We could contact Tenten though." Said Sakura. "Neji, you're her teammate. It wouldn't be weird for you to meet her out of the blue and ask to train, right?"

"Yes." Neji nodded.

Naruto, Neji and Sakura proceeded to compare what they knew… and it turned out that Lee had already filled the both of them in on what they'd found , and they had barely made any advances. A few records describing letters exchanged between the clans and the council, but nothing of substance.

Sakura proceeded to put a seal on both of them and then they took off separately. Sakura understood where Naruto was coming from when it came to Hinata, but she had been down that road before and it never ended in anything good. Sakura wished she had trusted in Sasuke before and there was not much she wanted more than to tell him now. She would have to talk to Naruto about how bad keeping secrets was when she had the chance.

 **-x-**

It was bound to happen. Sakura knew it. But she still wasn't ready for that moment. The day Sasuke would notice she was avoiding him.

Almost two months had gone by since her parents were attacked and she had gotten the seal. Of _course_ he would notice eventually. Sasuke normally didn't ask for that kind of thing – especially since they had gotten carried away before – and she had been the one to initiate most of their more intimate moments.

It had happened one day out of the blue while they were cooking. Sasuke had gotten behind her and had been watching her for half a minute. Sakura assumed that Sasuke would say something if he was bothered, but found that he wasn't speaking so she turned around.

"Sasuke?" she looked into his eyes and Sasuke took a couple steps closer until there was nothing but a palm's length of space between them and she could feel his breath tickling her face. Sakura felt her heart skip a beat and was suddenly… wary of his closeness. "What… is going on?"

"Nothing." He raised an eyebrow at her reaction. He clearly knew something was up, but wasn't saying it aloud. Sasuke leaned closer to her and Sakura felt anxiousness grip her heart.

"We still need to clean up in here." She said as calmly as possible and she turned around to walk away from him, but Sasuke's hand shot out to block her way. "Sasuke?"

"Why aren't you looking at me?" Sasuke asked in a low voice. He was confused.

"We're just busy, Sasuke. Let's clean this up right away."

"Don't play dumb." He growled. "You know I hate that."

Sakura remained quiet and averted her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Sasuke didn't say a thing, but he simply took her chin and lifted her head up to kiss her. Sakura jerked back and turned her head away from him, the action making her heart drop instantly. Sasuke's eyes darkened a bit, not in anger but in rejection.

"I knew it." Sasuke scoffed. "I thought I was over reacting or imagining things."

"…Sasuke-"

"You've been avoiding me ever since that day." Sasuke interrupted her. "I'm no idiot. I have been giving you space because of what happened to your father… but I had the feeling that something was off."

"…"

"Why?"

"…"

"Sakura. _Why._ "

"…"

"You're not going to tell me about it, are you?"

"Sasuke… I _can't_ tell you." She wanted to. Hell, these goddamn secrets were going to kill her. Destroy them. But how was she going to explain things with that seal on her back? It didn't allow her to even give hints about its existence. Kakashi _had_ noticed kind of against her will, after all.

"It's not because I refused to sleep with you some time ago, right? It wasn't long before the fire."

"Sasuke… you know that's not that important to me." Sakura bit her lower lip.

"I thought so." His eyes hardened. "You blame me for it, don't you?"

"What?"

"Your father's death."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "No!"

"You told me that day, I remember as if it had been yesterday. ' _I will never forgive you if you do this_ '." Sasuke clenched his eyes shut and his hands fisted at his sides. "And… in the end you didn't get to him in time."

"Anyone would've died if they had been inside the building at that moment!" Sakura couldn't say that she would've died, because that would be a lie. "I know why you did what you did, Sasuke!"

"Nonetheless, you can't help but think of me that way, can you? Even though you know I didn't have a choice and you understand why I did it."

"No!"

"That doesn't make it right either, does it?" Sasuke clenched his jaw. "Do you look at me and see the face of the person who prevented you from trying to save your own father?"

"Stop this, Sasuke!" Sakura yelled and grabbed his shoulders. "I have _never_ thought like that!"

"Then do it. Kiss me." Sasuke said. Sakura froze on the spot and looked at the floor. "Prove that it had nothing to do with it. Because I can't really think of another reason."

By now Sasuke and Sakura both knew that if she kissed him it wouldn't make things right. Sasuke was well aware that there was something going on and he was thinking about the wrong reasons. But nonetheless… was still expecting some kind of reaction from her. He was frustrated. He was confused.

Sasuke leaned in slowly, waiting to see what her reaction would be. He could _see_ Sakura's eyes filling with fear. Why was she making such a big deal about a kiss? He didn't want to make her afraid. Much less because of a kiss. It wasn't supposed to be like that.

"Dammit." Sasuke backed away from her and she released the breath she'd been holding. He stared into her eyes and she stared back. Sasuke was trying to understand and Sakura was trying to find a way to make him understand. "Do you want to be with me, Sakura?"

Sakura couldn't suppress a sob and threw her arms around his neck. She couldn't lie to him about this, she couldn't. She didn't exactly know how far Kabuto's rules went. But maybe simply _saying_ what she _wanted_ wasn't wrong. She whispered into Sasuke's neck, bracing herself for what may happen.

"Yes. God. _Yes_. Of course I want to. You have to know that. _Always._ "

"Then what do you want from me? What is _wrong_? Why are you avoiding me like this?" Sasuke's chest vibrated as he spoke.

"I… I… just need some time. Please." Sakura clung to him like a lifeline and Sasuke couldn't help but believe her. "Trust me with this. I _swear_ I will deal with this. Just…"

"I must be some kind of idiot, because even with everything you're keeping from me…" Sasuke looked into her eyes. "…I trust you. I just hope my instincts are not wrong."

"They're not." Sakura said with determination. "You _have_ to trust me. Please."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded.

Sasuke didn't deserve any of this. Sakura was well aware of that. He was everything she could've ever hoped for and he meant _so much_ to her. There had to be something she could do… something she could tell him. Something that didn't have anything to do with Kabuto, with her time travel, or with anything she'd learned in her past life. Then it hit her. She _had_ been just like Naruto for a long time, after all.

"Sasuke. There _is_ something I _can_ tell you." She said and he turned back to look at her, giving her his attention. "I've... stumbled upon some disturbing information. It's about the clans in our village."

Sasuke wasn't surprised about what Sakura told him afterwards. She was a bit shocked that he took the whole thing about corruption so easily. How could he not make any faces when he heard that the main clans had been funding suspicious investigations in the hospital – of course she couldn't tell him about what kind of investigations she'd seen – and that the council had been giving them access to special privileges? He didn't say anything as she spoke and simply nodded. In the end Sakura couldn't help but ask why he didn't seem surprised.

"You know I'm the last Uchiha _and_ Danzo's student. I have had my own suspicions for a long time." Sasuke sighed. "Politics are no different in Konoha than in any other village."

"Oh." Sakura felt like she hadn't made a difference.

"Sakura."

"Yes?"

"You haven't gotten into trouble with them, have you?"

Sakura frowned. "Why would you ask that?"

"The day you father died, I was too shocked to even question those events." Sasuke explained. "But I did think it was weird how your mother ended up bedridden because of the fire. She didn't have any burns or anything of the sort, but I had imagined that it was due to the smoke she'd inhaled. I didn't want to make you worry any further, so I looked into it myself. You _do_ know her condition right now has nothing to do with the fire."

"Yes." Sakura nodded. Sasuke looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to explain further. "I… believe so too. I think they were poisoned."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "So, the fire was just a cover up."

"Yes."

Sasuke was awfully quiet for a long time and Sakura's eyes ended up looking away from him. She could _see_ all of the thoughts that went through his head. And all of them made sense. _Why didn't you tell me before? You've been putting yourself at risk all this time. What happened to your father was because of the risks you've been talking._

And the last one was the one that broke her the most. Because he was right and it was something that she'd been trying to bury deep in her soul for the longest time. She knew what she'd done and she was trying hard to keep going. Sakura's eyes shone with sorrow and she had to close them and look down to keep her emotions to herself.

"Don't." Sasuke lifted her chin and she met his eyes. He was as heartbroken as she was. "Don't hide from me. Sakura. It was _not_ your fault."

"Yes it was." Sakura clenched her eyes shut. She didn't think it was because of the clans, but she believed it was probably because of Kabuto. And _that_ was her fault. "It _was,_ Sasuke."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, don't think like that. If you go down that road-"

"Sasuke. I'm no idiot." Sakura retorted and Sasuke's eyes softened. "I am perfectly aware that there's a high chance that what happened was because I was sticking my nose in somebody else's business. I tried to do what I thought was right and it backfired on me. On my parents. I need to live with what I did. Don't you _dare_ underestimate me."

Sasuke was silent for a moment and then he circled her with his arms. "I won't."

"I have no idea who it was and how they did it though." Sakura sighed into his shoulder and clenched his shirt in her fists. "So there's not much I can do about that for now."

"For now, let's just make sure your mother gets better. Then we'll figure out what to do." Sakura hummed into Sasuke's shoulder in agreement.

In her past life, Naruto had always claimed that Sasuke didn't deserve her. But now it seemed that it was the other way around. She kind of had her hands tied when it came to telling him the truth, but still nowadays it felt as if _she_ didn't deserve him.

 **A/N: I know this took so long. I was partly busy with my friend losing an election (LOL, common people always get kicked out of politics)** _ **and**_ **wasting my spare time. Anyways, I finally got it done.**

 **Someone asked how far along the story was… and I'd say maybe about 70%. I'm not sure, because I have the whole story planned through big events. Smaller events are decided slowly as the story progresses… so I have only thoroughly planned three more chapters. But nonetheless… I'd say 70%.**

 **As always I'd love to hear what you have to say about this chapter! And I also want to thank my beta for her continued support!**

 **I would like to focus this A/N on** _ **one**_ **issue in. A reviewer posted that I had plagiarized someone else's story. I didn't delete the review, but instead I wanted to clear the issue it publicly.**

 **They accused me of copying "If I knew then", by brezoflower. I read the whole thing. First of all… the story is only** _ **three**_ **chapters long. Also, in that story events are quite different:**

 **Sasuke's body s taken over by Orochimaru and then he dies.**

 **Sakura kills herself because of that and the Kyuubi sends her back in time. (So… no Juubi in there.)**

 **Sakura tells Kakashi about her time travel right after the bell test.**

 **I had the feeling – my beta agrees – that they either wanted to pick up a fight or they were confused.**

 **I sent a PM to them, and while we didn't get to an understanding I think now that the user is confused. I imagine (by the date on their profile) that the user kind of new to fanfiction and hasn't read many time-travel fictions. They claimed that there were many similar parts… which… well… of course there were because it** _ **is**_ **a time travel. Canon events are mostly written in the exact way they happened in Kishi's story, and were creativity comes into is in** _ **what**_ **we change as the story goes on. As I have explained earlier… the original ideas are quite different.** _ **And**_ **the other story is short, so there aren't many actual changes.**

 **I wanted to clear this up for all of you. If you want you can read the other story yourselves and, if you think there is an actual copy, please tell me about it.**

 **Thank you all so much for reading and for your support!**


	45. Rules and Limitations

**CHAPTER 45**

Five Bijuus. _Five._ That was the amount that the Akatsuki had gotten their hands on by now. Sakura wasn't supposed to know about that – like most shinobi – but Sasuke was Danzo's student and thus had access to more intel than most.

Sakura felt useless. Again. She had done _nothing_ for the last couple months. Well… she'd had her hands full with work and her mother's recovery, but she had done nothing to prevent the deaths of all those Jinchuuriki. They were just like Naruto and they had experienced a slow painful death surrounded by enemies.

And apart from all of that, she had started working with Kabuto again. For some reason, he was now making more appearances than before. Sakura wasn't sure if it was due to the fact that he now felt like he had her under his control more than ever or just because he was trying to irk her. If it was the latter, then he was doing a great job. Just being in the same room with him had her hands itching to cut his throat right there. But Kabuto wasn't weak. He was not easy to kill and Sakura knew it. If she wanted to have it done, she would have to wait for the perfect opportunity. So Sakura only had one option for the time being; lower her eyes and try to ignore his presence.

Sakura still wasn't sure if Kabuto was responsible for what happened to her parents. For her father's death. He hadn't even mentioned the event, but he was the first suspect on her list. Even if he wasn't, Sakura didn't lack reasons to have him as a target. The only thing that bothered her was; if Kabuto hadn't done it, then who? _Who_?

At least her mother was doing all right. Sakura had been helping her muscles with some chakra, because no matter how much she'd tried to prevent it with exercises, some damage had been caused by the lack of movement. Mebuki was starting to stand up now – and even walk a bit with the help of crutches – and it made Sakura's day whenever her mother made an improvement. The smile on her face and the glow in her eyes was all it took to make the hard work worth it.

She had made some time in her life to continue working on the poison that Itachi had asked her to make. So she used some of her alone time at night or whenever she didn't have a shift to research. At least that helped her feel like she was actually doing something to complete that god-damned self-imposed mission.

Now that her mother managed to move around a bit, Sakura had also decided – or rather, been forced to by her mom and Sasuke – to start going on short missions outside the village again. She'd so far been out only on one which had lasted _three_ measly days, but she had still been worried as hell. Sasuke couldn't stay all day long in the house – though she was grateful he was trying his best – and Naruto also had work to do. A person who was in the state her mother was in, staying alone in the house for hours was still too much of a risk. Thankfully, it seemed that Mebuki had managed all right.

Of course, Sakura had stressed the need for Sasuke to be there whenever he could; Mebuki could not cook or heat meals on her own and if she were to fall or something, it wouldn't be wise to have everyone gone for _hours_. Sakura didn't like asking such a thing of him – mainly because she still felt that Mebuki was _her_ responsibility – but seeing as the both of them had been pushing her to mind her career again, she'd had no other choice.

She sometimes complained about that, but she was actually grateful that they cared about her professional life. Sakura felt so much pressure to take care of everyone that she tended to forget about herself, but thankfully Sasuke and her mother were there to remind her otherwise.

 **-x-**

Sasuke had never again talked about her refusal to kiss him and he had not once tried to do it again. She could've thought it was because of his pride, but all of his other actions spoke otherwise. He was still kind – in his own way – and he hadn't changed the way he acted around her. Sakura imagined Sasuke had assumed that it had something to do with the fact that she felt guilty about her father's death. That she had made a mistake and she didn't feel like being too close to anyone. She wasn't sure, of course, but she imagined that he must've built some sort of theory to explain her actions.

It irked her though. He wasn't saying a thing and he was acting like his usual level-headed and logical self. But she could sometimes see the longing in his eyes. Sasuke wasn't good with emotions, but she _knew_ that he wasn't happy about the situation. He probably _understood_ her actions– especially since he himself had pushed everyone away after his clan was massacred – but it didn't mean that he was unaffected. He probably didn't know how to express or understand his emotions; Sasuke had always been too logical and was sometimes lacking on the emotional side. He probably didn't know how to even tell her how he felt, because he didn't even understand it himself. Sakura was afraid he would bottle it all up inside without knowing what he felt and end up reacting badly.

The best for him – for them – would be to talk it through. Of _course_. But Sakura couldn't speak about it! She didn't want to bring the issue up when she couldn't _explain_ why she wasn't kissing him. It was horrible to know that she couldn't help him, when she saw him confused about his own emotions. It -

 _Ting._

Sakura looked up from the clothes she was folding and looked sideways just as Sasuke's eyes found her own. His obsidian eyes narrowed as he sharpened his hearing, his hands frozen in place as he held the clothes he had been folding. Sakura waited for it.

 _Ting._

"Don't tell me." Sakura puckered her lips.

Sasuke dropped the unfolded shirt on the table and walked out of the room without a word. Sakura sighed and dropped the clothing she'd been holding right next to his, and followed into the kitchen.

 _Ting._

 _Ting._

 _Ting._

Now that she was getting closer to the kitchen, the dripping sound was getting faster. As soon as she entered the room, she saw Sasuke kneeling under the sink.

"It's a leak isn't it?"

"Aa."

"Sasuke." Sakura already knew what was coming. It was always the same with Sasuke. "Let's call someone to fix it."

"No."

"Sasuke-"

"I'll do it."

"Yes, but I'm not sure if-"

"It's _a mere_ leak."

"It _is_ a mere leak, but it is a plumbing system. Do you properly understand what you have to do?"

"Aa."

"Okaaay." He didn't. Sakura _knew_ it. "So, what exactly is it that you need to do?"

"It's probably just leftovers that got caught in the pipelines." Sasuke was probably referring to all the times he had told her to keep the sink clean while washing dishes. Sakura rolled her eyes but decided not to say anything about it.

"Sasuke, why not do things right the first time? Let's call someone who knows what they're doing."

"And how much is that going to cost?" He replied and looked over his shoulder at her. Without waiting for a reply, he turned back to the task at hand.

Sasuke didn't like spending money outside of what was scheduled, and money was scarce these days for him too. Mebuki's treatment still consumed most of Sakura's income and he had been providing for the three of them almost on his own. Sakura was grateful and knew that if Sasuke wasn't as strict as he was with spending money, then Sakura would probably have more debts than she already did.

Sakura sighed and walked out of the kitchen, back to the unfolded clothes that the both of them had been just occupied on. They had actually managed to divide the housework properly and it actually worked great. Sasuke had been living on his own for almost ten years and he was responsible with what needed to be done - for some reason, Naruto wasn't, and Sakura wondered if it had to do with their characters or their upbringing – so Sakura had actually learnt quite a deal from Sasuke. She _was_ mentally older, but she had _always_ lived with her parents and, no matter how much she'd offered to help, there had been somethings that she'd never thought about.

The huge pile of dry clothes got smaller and smaller as Sakura ironed and folded. Being a Shinobi was probably the dirtiest occupation out there; the clothes used for training had to be changed after every training session, even if there were multiple sessions a day, and let's not even get into washing after missions.

Sakura was almost done when she suddenly heard the sound of splashing water and a loud curse. Her feet carried her to the kitchen quickly as a frown formed on her face. She found a shirtless and soaked Sasuke kneeling in front of the sink. Her eyes roamed over his toned body for a couple seconds until she met his eyes, which forced all of the lecherous thoughts away from her mind. He was clearly frustrated and looked almost like an upset kid. She noticed that Sasuke had closed off the water valve, and she smirked as she leaned on the doorframe.

"So? Is it done?"

"Shut up." Sasuke growled and then sighed. "Do you have a contact?"

"I'll go find the guy and come right back." Sakura smiled. "Just get dry, you're soaking the floor and the wood is going to swell."

"I _know_ that." Sasuke growled, more at himself than at Sakura. If there was anyone overly worried about the house maintenance, it was Sasuke.

"Oh, and Sasuke?" Sakura called when she was at the front door with her shoes on.

"Hn." Sasuke called from the kitchen as he discarded his wet socks and was unbuttoning his pants. His annoyed eyes met hers across the hallway through his wet bangs. He looked _hot_ as hell, but Sakura couldn't suppress the need to tease him for having such a big pride.

"I didn't want to say this… but… told ya!" she rushed out the door with a wide beam on her face.

 **-x-**

Tenten was out.

Neji had talked it over with her. He had informed her that him, Naruto, and Sakura had decided to not drop Danzo's issue again. He had asked her to take part in it, but she had refused. Tenten was scared. And she had reason to be. Tenten wasn't like the rest of them.

Sakura had Sasuke's protection; everyone knew they were together and that she lived under the Uchiha heir's roof. Neji was part of the Hyuuga Clan; the clan that currently held the most power in the whole nation. And Naruto was not only Sarutobi's protégée, but also the Kyuubi's vessel. Tenten was barely above no one, just like Lee. She was an orphan from a civilian family and had _no_ family left whatsoever. She had realized what danger she was putting herself into after Lee got arrested and after Sakura's parents were attacked.

Sakura didn't blame her, nor did any of the others. She could relate to her. Tenten supported their actions, but didn't have the leverage to take part in it with some safety. In the future she would probably help them out on some isolated things, but she would no longer get involved like she did before.

Now they were on their own; Naruto, Sakura, and Neji. And they had gotten nowhere. They had gathered everything they'd found and realized that it was nowhere enough to set up case against Danzo. They needed real proof. Proof that he wasn't acting in line with Konoha's needs and development. Proof that he wasn't a good leader. Proof that he was corrupt. Proof that he had not been appointed as Hokage in a fair way.

And to do all of that they needed Hiruzen Sarutobi's help. They needed to meet with him and talk to him. So they decided to do it. It held some risk, but Sarutobi was now a part of the council so he still held power in Konoha. Naruto was key in this; if it hadn't been for his relationship with the older man it would've been nearly impossible to schedule a hearing. But they did, and they decided to let only Sakura go with Naruto. Neji had _never_ been close to Naruto or Sakura before, and the three of them paying Sarutobi a visit would've clearly been weird.

And so, Sakura and Naruto found themselves in front of the doors to his office. Naruto looked at the ANBU guarding the doors and beamed.

"Hey! We're here to visit Jiji."

"Sarutobi-sama." Sakura corrected.

"Hai. It's part of the schedule." The ANBU nodded and opened the doors for both to enter. "Fifteen minutes."

"Thanks, man!" Naruto smiled and entered, with Sakura following right behind them.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Sarutobi looked up from a book he'd been reading and smiled at the two teenagers in front of him.

"Naruto."

"Hey, Jiji!" Naruto beamed. "It's been a long time since I paid you a visit."

"You've never paid me a visit before. You were only brought to me whenever you misbehaved as a young child or came on your own later when you wanted to complain about a mission."

"Ahh… ahahahaha…" Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"And you've brought company, haven't you?" He looked at the pinkette. "Haruno Sakura, the genius medic. I assume you still work at the hospital."

"Hai." Sakura nodded.

"Ah, what am I doing? Come sit closer to me." He motioned to the chairs in front of his desk. Naruto and Sakura sat down and looked up at him with surprised as he made seals to sound proof the room. "Now, tell me _what_ exactly brings you here, Naruto."

"You know why we're here?" Naruto's eyes widened a fraction.

"I don't. But I know for a fact that you never visited before, why would you do that now with a friend?" Sarutobi said with a sigh. "I can't help but think that you're misbehaving again. Am I right?"

"I'm not." Naruto's eyes hardened a bit. "I'm doing the right thing."

"The right thing." Sarutobi smiled a bit, his eyes softening at the innocence hidden in Naruto's words. "What's that right thing you're doing?"

"Jiji… it's about Danzo." Naruto's eyes flashed towards Sakura and he swallowed. "I - _we_ don't like the way he runs Konoha. We think there's some shady business going on. The Hyuuga Clan seems to be doing things behind the scenes; we think they're buying some privileges."

"If I may add something, Sarutobi-sama." Sakura added. "I remember the day Danzo was appointed as Hokage clearly. You named him as your successor, but you never mentioned the will of fire when you listed the things that led you to choose him. It doesn't make any sense. The will of fire has always been _the_ most important quality of a leader, right?"

"Not the most important, but the one that made some of us different from the other leaders. At least in my opinion." Hiruzen explained. "Experience, intelligence, tactic thinking, amongst others, are important too."

"But Danzo is different from the previous Hokages." Sakura frowned. "He doesn't embody what Konoha is, what it's always been."

"Jiji… did you really want Danzo to be the Fifth?" Naruto asked carefully.

"Not completely…" Sarutobi sighed. "But it's far more complex than you imagine."

"Did he force you?" Sakura bit her lip.

"No, he didn't."

" _What_?" Naruto's eyes widened again. "So, you just chose him be to be Hokage even though you knew the kind of man the he was? Even though you knew he would rule Konoha in a very different way?"

"Naruto, I like the fire I see in your eyes; you're brave and you have a good heart. But you're too young and too unexperienced to understand this."

"Then _explain,_ jiji. _Why?_ " Naruto leaned forward as he locked eyes with the older man.

"There are powers that the Hokage can't control inside the village. There are dynamics that go beyond our power and there are decisions that don't always go in line with our ethics."

"The Hyuuga Clan." Sakura said; she had known.

"Yes, for example. The Clans have _always_ had villages under their control, not just now, but always. Strong clans are the key to the military power of a village and we _do_ live in a shinobi system. Power always plays a role; military power as in shinobi clans and economic power as in feudal lords or powerful businessmen. If a nation can't have a strong economic and military system, they are doomed. Another nation with greater power will either absorb it or abuse them."

"If you don't want the strongest clans and the wealthiest people leaving your nation and move to another one, you ought to abide by their rules to an extent." Sakura knew about this, but she had hoped that she wouldn't stumble upon it.

Sarutobi smiled. "You're a smart girl, Sakura. As I was saying. I may not have liked what I did, but the Hokage is merely someone who manages and protects the village. I can't make every decision and there are things I _cannot_ control. The Hyuugas didn't like the way the village was being handled… they didn't want me in power anymore. They wanted someone who would… make Konoha more powerful."

"But that's fucked up!" Naruto complained.

"Power always is, Naruto." Sarutobi sighed. "There are things we cannot control, you have to understand that. Some things cannot be changed."

"I don't buy that shit!"

" _Naruto._ " Sakura narrowed her eyes at her blond friend. "Keep your voice down."

Naruto took a deep breath and then kept going. "There may be things that are fucked up in this world. There may be things that are wrong in our village. But we have to stop them. How can anyone simply accept that such corruption is normal and meant to exist?"

"It's not an isolated evil, Naruto." Sakura sighed. "It's part of the world we've created."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think the shinobi system would work if there were no separate villages? What happens to people when they don't live inside a village and are protected by it? What happens to villages when they lose their economic and military power? Do you honestly think that, say, stopping the Hyuugas will eliminate the issue? There will always be someone who will yield more power, and they will always have a say in how things are run. There will always be privilege and there will always be power abuse, people who are left behind and victims of violence."

"It's sick. I won't accept it." Naruto closed his eyes tight and clenched his hands shut.

"Naruto, if you find a way to change things, then do it. But until then, we have to do the best we can with what we've got."

"I understand how you feel." Sakura put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. She'd learned the hard way – her _father's_ life – that doing the right thing isn't always an option. "But you have to know that the ideal world in our heads isn't always the reality around us. The world is not a pretty place and I share your frustration, but you need to _accept_ that changing it isn't an easy task."

"Naruto, you have a good heart. But you're still a kid and you need to grow up. You-"

" _Don't_ tell me to 'grow up'! If growing up means just closing my eyes to injustice, I won't. Ever." Naruto growled, slammed his open palms on the table and then stood up. "Excuse me."

Naruto turned around and left through the door. Sakura locked eyes with Sarutobi. "I know you didn't mean it that way."

"This kid is a handful." He sighed and leaned into his armchair. "I like how committed he is to doing what's right, but he needs to mature first. You can't try to change the world if you have trouble understanding how some issues are a result of everything else going on around us."

Sakura sighed too. "I should get going."

"I understand. Please look after Naruto." Sarutobi leaned his head slightly.

Sakura jolted in surprise because of the gesture and then bent deeply. "Of course. Thank you for your time."

Sakura turned around and headed for the door. She kept her pace slow until she left the building and only then started looking for Naruto all around. It took her some time, but she finally found him sitting on a tree branch in a training ground. His knees were bent and his head was buried between them. Sakura jumped up and sat close to him.

"Hey."

"Mmm."

"Naruto… how are you feeling?"

Naruto snorted. "How do you think?"

"Don't leave me out. Hey. I want you to know that I understand how you feel."

"Yeah. But you still think that I'm a brat, don't you?" Naruto's head turned upwards, and now his eyes were peeking at Sakura while the rest of his face was hidden behind his folded arms and his knees.

Sakura frowned. "No. I don't."

"That's what you said."

"That what the Third said, not me."

"But you agree." The blonde locked eyes with her. She knew Naruto was brave, but she also knew that if the people closest to Naruto thought little of him it would affect him. Sakura stayed quiet for a while, but then answered with resolve.

"I don't. I don't think that acting that way is being a brat. I think you're brave, I think you're honest, and I think you care about others. Of course maybe to fully understand the issue we all have to grow older… I really don't think we as young people understand better than older people."

"I've seen so much, Sakura. The second half of my travels with Jiraiya were… eye opening. I saw so much poverty and so much violence. You can't even imagine. It's imbedded in my mind; their stories, the look in their eyes. And now I come back to Konoha, probably the greatest shinobi village, where everyone has a pretty good life… and guess what? Leaders are concerned that they won't have as much stability if anything changes."

"I understand… but I think it's not just about those stories and what you've seen. Sarutobi is talking about something else. Maybe things are not what they seem when you just look at the different pieces individually. Maybe to truly understand the issue, you have to see the connections between them. And then maybe you'll come to understand that things are not as simple as you believed them to be."

"Tch. I _don't_ think they're simple. But I know that I have to do _something._ Jiji tried to do his best but at the same time he risked _nothing_! How did he expect to achieve anything?"

"Naruto… I'm certain that you have a bright future ahead of you. I'm _sure_ that you will be able to change things. But you need to take it easy. Learn all you need to learn first, and then make things right. Do it when you have an idea of what you're dealing with and when you know you won't be running into your death." Her hand caught his own and pressed hard. "I don't want to lose you too."

"I… I guess you're right." Naruto laughed. "I guess the worst kind of ignorant is the one who doesn't know he is one."

"Thankfully you're not of that kind." Sakura smiled playfully.

"Shut up!" Naruto laughed. "You keep on speaking as if you were an old lady!"

Sakura laughed a bit at that and then looked at the dirt road ahead of them, where Hinata was taking a walk. She seemed content enough simply walking through the trees and being surrounded by silence.

" _HINATA-CHAAAAAN!_ " Naruto waved strenuously until she turned around and looked back at him. Her face lit up with a smile and she waved back. "Oi, I'll be going now. Good bye, Sakura-chan!"

"Bye."

Sakura smiled and watched as Naruto and Hinata started walking together, a soft smile on both their faces. For a moment, she swore she saw Hinata and Naruto's hand brush together, and then their shoulders shook in nervous laughter.

 **-x-**

"Sasuke." Sakura brought him out of his thoughts and the food on his plate.

"Hn."

"I've realized you haven't had as many nightmares as before."

"Aa." Sasuke half smiled and nodded. It was true; for some reason his nightmares had decreased to the point where he didn't remember the last time he'd had one; probably weeks ago. "It seems now as if… their memories don't haunt me anymore."

"I know." Sakura smiled. Sasuke could now talk openly about his family when he felt like it, without being haunted or depressed by it.

"I've noticed too." Mebuki pointed out as she cut another piece of meat. "My daughter hasn't been sneaking into your room at night as much."

Sasuke almost chocked on his food and Sakura's face paled. Her eyes darted to her mother's smirking face and her jaw dropped. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Oh, you think I wouldn't notice? Sakura, you and I _share the same room_ and I'm your mother _._ Of course I've noticed."

"Mebuki, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about this." Sasuke started explaining.

"I'm getting the right idea, don't worry." Mebuki smiled. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, not knowing if she was messing with him or not.

"Just so you know, there are no improper activities going on in my bedroom or anywhere in the house." Sasuke explained.

"Sasuke…" Sakura's eyebrow twitched.

"I just needed to clear things."

"There was no need to say that to my mom. She already understood what you meant… and… that choice of words. _Ugh_."

"I can't be sure about that and it's only fitting that I explain things to her."

"Don't worry, I've realized that she only gets up when you're having a nightmare." Mebuki smiled. "I don't know why you're so uptight about this. I wouldn't mind if the two of you kept each other company in the absence of nightmares."

 _Great._ Now Mebuki had picked up on her father's bad habits. "Mom, I don't think we should be talking about this during lunch."

"I'm not trying to tease you. I mean it. I trust you. Both of you." A bright smile shone on Mebuki's face.

"Aa." Sasuke nodded and quickly decided to pick up the plates – Sakura cursed under her breath because she'd wanted that excuse to leave the table for a moment.

"Sweetie, what are you planning for tomorrow?" Mebuki asked quietly as soon as Sasuke was out of sight.

"Oh, you mean Sasuke's birthday? Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino and I are going out for dinner tonight. That way we'll celebrate with Sasuke as soon as it's midnight."

"That's nice." Mebuki smiled. "Make sure to tell Naruto I said hi. I haven't seen him in a long time."

"I will." Sakura nodded. "He'll probably want to come over."

 **-x-**

"Ohhhhh. Your mom is so sweet!" Naruto beamed and filled his mouth with food. "I haven't visited in forever though. I'll make sure to come by sometime!"

Sakura smirked. "Of course."

"You know, your mom is kind of the mommy of our team." Naruto pointed out and lifted a finger. "She takes good care of all of us whenever she can. Right Sasuke?"

"Aa." Sasuke nodded once.

"But that's fucked up. Because then the three of us would be like siblings and… well… the two of you… you know. Creepy as fuck."

"Idiot. The fact that she's like a mother to me or you doesn't make us siblings."

"How can you be so sure, huh?" Naruto wiggled his eyebrows.

"There's a reason they call it 'mother-in-law', moron."

"Oh." Naruto put his hand on his chin and thought hard. "But you're still underage so you can't be married _and_ are legally a kid, living with her. So she's like your mom and you're like siblings who are into each other. Like a story in Icha-icha Paradise, right?"

"Naruto, that's ridiculous." Sakura snorted.

"Maybe it is." Naruto smirked. "But I need to entertain myself somehow."

"Only someone like you can find entertainment in such things." Ino sighed. "Every time we meet we all get dragged into these ridiculous alpha-male arguments between the two of you."

"I second that." Shikamaru added. "Too troublesome."

Sasuke's eyes shot up at Shikamaru's agreement and looked slightly surprised. Shikamaru noticed that Sasuke was giving him a conveyed betrayed look and the Nara simply shrugged.

"All of you are a bunch of stuck up geezers!" Naruto complained. "Ya'll need to loosen up a bit."

"Maybe we could use that." Ino smiled. "Sakura, you've been needing this for a long time."

"What do you suggest?" Sakura raised her eyebrow at both them.

Both blondes shared a mischievous look and then chorused. "Sake!"

"We're underage." Sakura frowned.

"It doesn't matter! Teuchi is an old friend of mine since I've been coming to Ichiraku's since I was born. He won't make it a problem."

"I don't know." Sakura bit her lip; she didn't feel safe enough in the village to go around drunk. "I don't like letting my guard down."

"Come on… how long has it been since you've actually relaxed and enjoyed yourself?" Ino frowned.

Then again, it had been a long time since she'd forgotten about her issues for a while. She knew her mind needed to forget about her issues even if just for a while. And why not admit it; it was truly difficult for her to say no to Naruto. "Well… I guess it wouldn't hurt to do it once."

"Shikamaru?" Ino eyed her teammate.

"Ah… I don't want any of you nagging me about this all night long. So I guess I will have some."

"YEAH!" Naruto turned to look at Sasuke. "Teme?"

"No."

"What a stuck up bastard. It'll help you loosen up. Kami knows you need to."

"I don't need to."

"Uh…. _YES_ you do." the blonde nodded repeatedly. "You definitely do."

"I don't."

"Sakura-chaaaaan. Say something." Naruto complained.

"You shouldn't force him to drink, Naruto." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Yes I should." Naruto slammed his hand on the table. "Look bastard, you don't need to get _drunk._ But I'm sure you and Sakura have been through a lot the last few months and it would good for the both of you to relax for a bit."

"I don't need alcohol to relax." Sasuke stated.

"Uh… _I_ don't. _You_ do." Naruto pointed at him. "It's your goddamn birthday! Allow yourself to step out of the box! Sakura is going to!"

"Naruto, this is Sasuke's birthday. Don't nag him all night long. Let him be."

"Sakura, I will sacrifice anything so that the teme has a good time _for once in his life._ I will complain about this all night if I have to."

"This is ridiculous…" Sasuke passed his hand through his hair.

"Yes it is!" Naruto nodded vigorously. "So, what is it going to be?"

"…"

"Teme!"

"…"

"Bastard!"

" _Fine._ " Sasuke sighed in exasperation and rolled his eyes until they were white.

"It's no use man; I knew it from the start." Shikamaru patted his friend on the shoulder.

And so, all five of them ordered sake and sat at that table for hours. Sasuke actually managed to open up more – still within his standards – and even Shikamaru laughed every now and then. Naruto and Ino made lame jokes all night long and Sakura was surprised how good the two of them actually got along.

Sakura felt like she was in a different reality at that moment. As if she were a normal civilian teenager, having some drinks (illegally) with her friends at a bar, laughing about nonsense and finding the most ridiculous topic interesting and worthy of speaking about. Sakura was sure Sasuke felt the same way, because whenever their eyes met across the table, there would be a strange glint along with amazement in them. Sasuke was feeling happy and joyful, and that was all she could've asked for that night.

After midnight had passed and after celebrating Sasuke for a while, they decided it was late enough. Shikamaru offered to walk Ino home, saying that his parents would give him an earful if they found out he allowed her to go on her own. Naruto decided to sit with Teuchi and talk for some time, and Sasuke and Sakura headed home.

"You were happy." Sakura smiled and stretched her arms behind her back. Sasuke looked at her with raised eyebrows. "You were really happy today. I'm glad… it's been a really long since I last saw you like that."

"Aa." Sasuke looked upwards at the starry night and chuckled **(A/N: remember Sasuke has been drinking a bit)**. "I guess it has."

"I'm sorry."

"What? Why?"

"You've been really tired and through a lot because of us. I'm sorry we're causing so much trouble."

"How many times have we been through this before?" Sasuke groaned.

"I know! But seeing you happy like this… I don't know. I feel guilty. I'm supposed to be making you happy, aren't I? Cause I'm not."

"Idiot." Sasuke tapped Sakura on the shoulder with enough strength to make her stumble. "You're not supposed to _make me happy_. We're supposed to be there for each other."

"Still…"

"You do." Sasuke stared into her eyes and stopped walking. "You do make me happy, but not because of what you do. I'm grateful that you're in my life."

"Me too." Sakura chuckled softly. "I'm glad I get to go through shit with you."

"See? Now stop being such an idiot." Sasuke was about to start walking once again when Sakura held his wrist for a moment.

"Sasuke, thank you."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded and the two of them went back to walking. Sasuke immediately missed the warmth of Sakura's hand around his wrist. He looked sideways and watched her until they were in front of the apartment. "Oi."

"Huh?"

"You said you were thankful."

"I did."

"You know… it's my birthday." Sasuke watched Sakura nod. "Do I get to make a request?"

"Yes, of course!" Sakura said and immediately regretted it when she saw Sasuke's smirk.

"Well… there's something I want."

"Sasuke…" Sakura knew where this was going and leaned her back on the front door.

"It's a gift."

"It's not meant to be a gift."

"No?" Sasuke smirked and moved closer to her.

"No. It's supposed to be meant by both people." Sakura explained, but her cheeks were already flushed.

"I don't see you complaining."

Sasuke was about to lean in, but Sakura crouched to avoid facing him. When she did so, one of her feet moved and she unintentionally swiped Sasuke of his feet. Maybe it was the alcohol, but for some reason Sasuke wasn't fast enough to hold his weight with his hands on the door and his face slammed right on the wood.

"Sasuke! I'm sorry!" Sakura jumped up and stood next to Sasuke, who was holding his nose tightly. "Did you hit your nose?"

"Aa." Sasuke groaned and looked into one of his palms to see a fair amount of blood. "I think it's broken."

"I'm sorry! Come on in, I'll fix it right away."

Both entered the apartment quietly and went right into Sasuke's bedroom, so they wouldn't wake Mebuki up. Sakura immediately channeled chakra and started healing Sasuke's nose. As she did so, she was having a hard time keeping her laughter in.

"Don't laugh." Sasuke's nasal voice complained and he narrowed his eyes as her hands kept and healing him.

"I'm- I'm sorry!" Sakura snorted and laughed openly now. "It's just – I – It was so funny!"

"Funny _how?_ "

"Well, you wanted to kiss me, I dodged and you slammed your nose against the door." Sakura giggled. "I know it hurt, but now that you're better you can't deny it's kind of funny."

"Hn." Sasuke smirked and chuckled. "I guess so."

"Stop moving!" Sakura instructed and Sasuke stopped. A couple seconds later her work was done. "There. Your nose is a good as new; I even replicated the same angle it had."

"Aa." Sasuke nodded and then stood up to leave the room. Sakura assumed that he was going to the bathroom to wash away the blood on his face and hands.

Sakura was about to get up and leave the room when she saw a book under Sasuke pillow. She picked it up by instinct and read the cover. _Icha-Icha Paradise 2._

 _Ha_! Sakura had always known that Sasuke was a pervert deep down - then again probably everyone is in one way or another. Her team was doomed from their sensei to the only female member! She laughed a bit to herself and then opened the book to the page that was marked. She had read this particular book not too long ago. In fact she used to own it – along with other Icha-Icha books – until her house was burnt down.

Sakura had always enjoyed this kind of literature – _oops_ – and she had kind of missed reading it. The lack of actual sexual action in her life was sort of lessened when she read erotic literature. She wondered if it was the same with Sasuke.

She became so engrossed with reading that she forgot she was in Sasuke's room reading _his_ book. After reading for a couple of minutes she felt her lower belly tingle and decided to close the book with a loud _tap._ As soon as she did, she wondered about something… and opened the book and brought it to her nose by instinct. She took a deep breath, wondering if Sasuke's scent would be all over-

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice from behind her made her jump – partly because of the surprise and partly because he sounded closer than the door – and she quickly closed the book and put it under the pillow.

"Yeah?" Sakura didn't even turn around to face him, because her face was beet red. He would know something was up – if he didn't already.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing." Sakura wondered if he was teasing her and he already knew the answer. She felt Sasuke sit next to her on the bed and she quickly stood up, refusing to look at him, and walked to the window on the other end of the room.

Sasuke chuckled as she stared out the window at nothing in particular. Her mind kept screaming _Shit, shit, shit, he saw me didn't he?_ Sasuke stayed quiet for several very long seconds before he finally spoke up.

"You really are a pervert, aren't you?"

"You can't call me a pervert because of reading something _you_ own." Sakura retorted and still refused to look at him.

"Oh. If someone came in and sniffed your underwear, wouldn't you call them a pervert?"

"It was _not_ your underwear." Sakura turned around and met Sasuke's glinting eyes. He was clearly having lots of fun. There was no way she would admit such a thing in front of him.

"Oh no. It wasn't. But I know what you were thinking." Sasuke stood up and walked closer to her. "You were thinking about what I might've done while reading that book, right?"

"What? No! I just love the scent of books." Sakura defended herself.

"Sakura. Why are you ashamed?" Sasuke's teasing smirk was gone and he stopped right in front of her, his eyes locking with her own. "It's cool with me."

"I…" Sakura realized her cheeks were on fire and she was almost sweating. There was no way Sasuke would believe her excuses. " _Fine_ , it's the truth."

Sasuke's eyes were intense enough as it was and Sakura still felt the taste of sake in her mouth. Hell, she was sure that Sasuke did too. She was in no condition to go through this right now. Sakura quickly moved sideways to walk out of his room, but Sasuke leaned his hand on the wall blocking her way. She felt her heart race and her eyes locked with Sasuke's. She immediately turned around towards the window, but Sasuke's other arm appeared in front of her.

"Sasuke… let me out." Her eyes never left the window, but she could feel Sasuke's warmth behind her.

"Why do you avoid me? I know you want me… Sakura." He spoke close to her shoulder and it made goosebumps go all over her.

"You're also not supposed to be doing such things… we talked about this."

"We can't go all the way. But I sure as hell would do other things." Sasuke explained. "Now tell me."

"…" Sasuke's lips caressed her shoulder and the line of her neck. Sakura moved her head away, but she was barely fighting the urge to give into him. "Sasuke."

"If you want me to stop, say you don't want me." His fingertips ran up and down her sides and he buried his head in the back of her neck. Sasuke took a deep breath in, taking all of her scent.

"… Sasuke I…" Sakura needed him to stop, but _kami_ she didn't want him to. How was she even supposed to say such a lie? That she didn't want him? The alcohol wasn't _that_ strong, but it was enough to strip her of her self-control.

"I will stop if you say it."

Sakura felt dizzy and all she could focus on was Sasuke's fingers like feathers on her arms, on her hips, on her thighs. His lips lightly caressing the skin at the curve of her neck, his breath fanning over her skin was driving her crazy. Sakura didn't want him to kiss her – some part of her subconscious knew that she needed to keep him away – and so she fully turned towards the wall and showed her back to him.

Sasuke wasn't bothered, apparently, because his hands clenched her waist firmly, and his mouth started leaving open kisses down the back her neck. When Sakura heard herself moan softly, her eyes opened and her hand grasped Sasuke's locks softly.

"Sasuke, this… we shouldn't."

Sasuke spoke into her ear. "We should if we want to. I can stop if you don't want to, but you have to say it, Sakura."

He left her ear and sucked on her neck, making Sakura arch her back into him. Sasuke's hands stopped roaming over her arms and sides, and they slipped under her shirt. _Slowly._ Achingly slow. His fingers trailed drawings on her belly and went up. _Slowly._ Sakura wondered if he was doing it like that to give her a chance to stop him or to make her beg, but she didn't have enough of a mind to do either. She just threw her head back leaning on Sasuke's shoulder, feeling the bliss of his touch, smelling the scent of his breath that for some reason smelt like sake and honey – or something equally as sweet.

Her mind soon forgot everything that was at stake; the longing for him and the weakness of her clouded mind simply allowed him to do what he wanted. What she wanted.

His hands soon were on the edge of her bra, and they trailed it all the way to the back _slowly._ In one movement her bra was undone – Sasuke must've gotten lots of experience while doing her laundry – and his hands were back on her skin. From under her shirt, they trailed back to her front and circled her ribs, back and forth, each time closer to her breasts. Sakura felt her body tense in anticipation. How did he manage to make her want like this?

"Ahh… Sasuke…"

"Shh…" Sasuke stopped touching her for a moment and his hands left the skin on her ribs. He took her shirt off in one motion and, before Sakura could regain her mind, his fingertips were trailing circles on her breasts. The movement was so gentle that Sakura almost had to concentrate to properly feel his touch. He circled closer and closer until his hands touched her nipples.

"…Ahh… Sasuke… I…" Sakura was leaning back on his shoulder, she looked sideways and locked eyes with him. As he touched the peaks of her breasts – at first lightly and then with more resolution – she noticed that his eyes were intensely watching her face. Every movement she made, every sound that escaped her lips.

Sasuke leaned slightly closer to her and she knew he wanted to kiss her, so her head turned away from him. Some ridiculous part of her subconscious must've imagined that if they did _this_ but didn't kiss, everything would be all right.

Sakura felt one of Sasuke's hands leave her breast and trail down to her ribs, to her belly, to the edge of her pants. Her breath hitched when his hand slipped under the hem of her pants and then back out. He teased her like that for what seemed like a long time, but then finally snuck into her pants for good.

His fingers touched her over her underwear, softly, as if getting to know foreign territory. They trailed the outline of her underwear and her thighs. The front of her pubic bone and everything he could reach over her underwear. One of Sasuke's fingers went under her panties and Sakura gasped, but then pulled away. Sasuke seemed to like that – teasing her – because for a long time he never really touched her under the fabric, and every time his hand would retreat Sakura would sigh in disappointment.

Sakura didn't know it, but Sasuke wanted her to say it. For such a long time she'd refused him in this way, that he wanted nothing more than to have her ask for him. Have her say that she desired his touch the way he wanted her to. And that's why he was keeping himself under control – because hell knows how much he has wanted to touch her – and kept teasing her to the point where she would tell him what to do.

"Ahhh… Sasuke…"

"What." Sasuke spoke into her neck softly biting down on the skin.

"Please…"

"Please what."

"Kami…Just…" Sakura sighed when Sasuke teased her once more. " _Do it_."

Sakura wasn't one to order him around like that and Sasuke smirked with amusement as he nodded. His fingers went under her panties and _he_ had to groan loudly alongside Sakura's soft moan.

"Damn it. Sakura, you're wet."

Sasuke's fingers slowly started to touch her, exploring her wetness. Sasuke was amazed by how soft she felt down there and he could feel himself twitch at just the thought of someday being inside of her. His fingers went all around her major lips and then slowly inside of her.

"Ah…" Sakura held on to his shoulders tightly as he fingered her for several moments.

Sasuke's fingers pulled away and started trailing in between her legs back and forth. Sasuke had never done this and the only information he had was what he'd read in those novels Kakashi had insisted on giving him, but it was nowhere near enough to find the spot he was looking for. He spoke into her ear. "Tell me where."

His fingers kept on moving in different ways, and he realized that there were certain movements that seemed to make Sakura tense up. He followed his gut and repeated those he thought were the right ones, until-

"Ah… there." Sakura gasped and fisted her hands on his shoulders, clenching to him and forcing his front flush against her back.

Sasuke did as he was instructed, his finger circling around the spot she'd signaled in a steady rhythm. Slowly, but steadily, Sasuke saw Sakura grow more and more aroused. Her face became beautifully flushed, her eyes glassy, her lips somehow red. Her clit was now swollen because Sasuke could clearly feel it under his fingers. Her body was growing tenser and her breath hitched, sometimes even making sounds that were going to drive him _mad_.

His other hand left her breast and it went down to hold on to her hip in a strong grip. Sakura yelped at that and leaned forward, her hands leaning on the wall for support and her left cheek pressed against it too. She was looking back at Sasuke, her eyes locking with his own.

"Ah…" Sakura's neck arched backwards. "Sas – Sas – uke…"

Sasuke pressed his front torso to Sakura's back, his right hand still touching her and his left hand now on the back of her neck. His face was so close to hers, that they were breathing the same air and he could even see the tiny dots of sweat on the bridge of her nose.

"A- ah!" Sakura suddenly clutched his arm with such strength that he knew she was going over the edge. Sasuke held the back of her neck tightly and slammed his open mouth on her own just as she came, making her scream into his mouth. His hand didn't stop while she was riding her climax, his tongue devouring her as she somehow managed to respond – slightly clumsily due to the apparent lack of control that came with her orgasm.

Sasuke's mind was on fire. Just reading literature was definitely _not_ enough to portray how an actual woman would feel like. In fact, when just reading the descriptions of the faces people were supposed to make… it sometimes sounded kind of ridiculous. However. _However._ The real thing was out of this world and not at all ridiculous. Sasuke sucked on Sakura's tongue once more before she pulled apart.

"…ah… Stop… Sasuke." Sakura pulled his hand out of her panties and took a deep breath in. Sasuke smirked, not really moving backwards and remaining in her personal space.

"I now understand why girls wear makeup." He pointed.

"Huh?"

"Right now your cheeks are flushed and your lips are red. As if you put makeup on."

Sakura's eyebrows shot upwards. "That makes sense. Makeup tries to imitate…" and then it hit her; what they'd been doing. "Sasuke!"

She pushed him back and covered her bare breasts with her arms. She turned to face him and moved a couple steps back. "I told you to stop."

"You never said you didn't want me." Sasuke sighed and sat down on his bed.

"You're playing dirty." Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Of course I want you! But it doesn't mean I don't get to _choose_ whether or not to follow those desires."

"You're making a huge deal out of this."

"Maybe. But I did respect _your_ decision last time, didn't I? I _knew_ your body felt something, but I respect you enough to acknowledge you have a choice. Even though you _desire_ something, you have the right to choose your actions."

Sasuke was quiet for a moment and then his eyes looked down. "… You're right. But there's a difference." Sasuke pointed out. "I immediately explained to you the reasons why I didn't want to do it. On the other hand, you've been keeping me in the dark all this time."

"I _know_!" Sakura clenched her eyes shut. "I know… I'm sorry. I can't tell you."

Sakura knew he was right. They both were right. He wasn't supposed to make her want him enough so she wouldn't get a choice in making a real decision. She was supposed to choose this with a clear mind, just like he did. But she was also being horribly unfair with him. She was expecting him to be there for her and wait without even explaining her actions towards him. Without even explaining the reason for her rejection. How could she even try to?

Looking into his questioning eyes, that for some reason seemed much deeper and _filled_ with emotion, she decided she couldn't keep this conversation going. Because she would end up saying something and get herself killed. So, Sakura turned around and left the room as Sasuke's eyes never left her – expecting her to talk.

Sasuke seemed to be frozen inside for several seconds, but she soon heard his footsteps follow her into the hallway. She didn't want to wake up her mother, so she kept walking until she entered the kitchen. Sasuke came in right behind her and closed the door _slowly_. However, she could tell that he was holding himself back, because the air was incredibly tense. A deep silence filled the room and Sakura suddenly felt like she needed a shirt. Her arms tried to cover her breasts to the best of her ability, but she still felt the air grow cold. All remains of alcohol seemed to drain from her blood and her mind was suddenly as clear as ever.

" _Sakura._ " Sasuke began, his voice a low baritone that notified her that he was serious as hell. His eyes were drilling into her own as he completely ignored the fact that she was half naked.

"…Sasuke?"

" . _fuck._ put a seal on you?" His low tone echoed in the kitchen.

Sakura gasped and she realized that when she'd turned her back on him to leave, he must've noticed it on her lower back. How ridiculous of her of covering her breasts when she should've been covering her back. Then again… she didn't feel any regret. In fact, she had been wanting him to know for a long time. She also hadn't shown it on purpose, so there weren't supposed to be consequences.

Damn. She was so _fucking_ glad that he'd seen it. She wanted him to know everything. She wanted to tell him about everything. But she couldn't. She would curse Kabuto until the day she died.

"Sasuke…" Sakura bit her lip and fisted her hands on his shirt.

"Is thiswhat's been keeping you from telling me whatever is going on?"

Sakura pressed her lips together and wondered. If she nodded… what would happen? Before she could decide Sasuke spoke again.

"Is _this_ what's been keeping you away from me?" Thank Kami Sasuke was smart; he immediately connected the dots. "I always felt like you were forcing yourself to stay away."

Sakura looked into his eyes. She wanted him to understand that _yes. YES._ That was it. She wanted to tell him about what was going on in her life. About everything she'd been through. But that seal was not allowing her to. It was also the same thing that was forcing her to push him away as a lover. It was the one thing that had been keeping her from kissing him and-

Sakura froze.

What had they just been doing? Sasuke had not only just kissed her deeply; he had taken her to a climax. Kabuto had clearly stated that he wanted her to stop the "thing" she had with Sasuke. And they had done the exact opposite – by far. And Sakura had allowed him to. And _nothing_ had happened.

 _Nothing had happened._ At all.

What the hell?

"Sakura?" Sasuke's voice was now less angry. He obviously still seemed upset, but he had calmed down and his eyes seemed more worried now.

"Sasuke… we… we just…" Sakura swallowed hard. "What you – we – just did….. nothing happened."

"Was something supposed to?"

Sakura didn't say anything. She didn't know how far Kabuto's rules went. Her hand went to the bridge of her nose and she thought hard. She had _clearly_ broken one of his rules. And she was still alive, when according to what he'd said she should've been at least hurt after breaking his rules. What if…

Her whole world stopped once again.

What if it was just a bluff?

Kabuto's rules. If _this_ particular action had caused _nothing_ … then what about the other rules? Maybe Kabuto's seal was something else and he had taken the chance to further restrain her with empty threats?

Her mind was on overdrive. Sakura had never even _questioned_ Kabuto's rules. How stupid was she?! Months had gone by and she'd been stuck because she had believed his threats. She felt like punching herself.

Sakura looked Sasuke in the eye. She was going to take the risk. She was going to make sure it wasn't vital intel so that it wasn't such a strong violation of the rules – if those even applied. If it wasn't a strong violation of the rules she wouldn't die… probably. She thought hard for a moment and then took a deep breath in.

"Sasuke, listen to me." Sakura begun and took a deep breath to speak again and say ' _Kabuto did this',_ but before she could even make another sound, a scorching pain shot from the base of her column and up her spine. Her face contorted in a silent scream and she doubled over, stumbling and falling over.

"Sakura!" Sasuke's arms were holding her up that second and he kneeled down so they were at ground level. " _Don't_ speak about it! You're going to get yourself killed."

Sakura didn't even notice he was speaking to her, as the pain left a loud ringing in her ears and a splitting ache in her head. Sakura held on to his shoulders for minutes, until the aftershock of the pain wore off. She finally managed to open her eyes with a less clouded mind.

She hadn't even been able to utter one word to Sasuke. It seemed that while one rule didn't really apply, another certainly did. Kabuto had placed a seal on her that had at least one condition, but he had played it out as if it had more. Sakura growled.

 _Smart motherfucker._

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice made his chest rumble. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah…"Sakura met his narrowed eyes.

"Don't even try talking about this again."

"I won't." Sakura agreed. After the shock that she received, Sakura had a feeling that the next time she tried to disclose forbidden intel she wouldn't come out unscathed like she just had.

"So… this is what I have figured out." Sasuke began, as he read her expression carefully. "You were given at least two rules along with the seal. One was not to tell me about certain subjects. Another one was to keep me as a simple friend, or something along those lines. You believed both of them to be true until just now… and then decided to break the other rule too. Now you know only one of the rules is the real deal."

Sakura didn't say anything – was she even allowed to?! – but inwardly agreed. Sasuke continued with his speculations.

"The seal prevents you from talking to me about something important. I remember that before the attack on your parents you were going to tell me about something. It seemed vital and you demanded to tell me only when we were out of the village on a mission. The next thing that happens is the fire and then you suddenly can't tell me about it anymore. So, I suppose the seal was placed on you around that time. I'm beginning to think that the fire might've had something to do with that."

 _Thank you Kami for giving Sasuke a sharp mind._

"The real question is _who_ performed the jutsu. It could've been the clans, but then again we _have_ spoken about that issue during this time. So it doesn't involve them, or at least not directly." Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he thought hard. "Damn it… there's too many options. From other villages, to the Akatsuki, to someone on the inside."

Sakura wanted to tell him that the culprit was close, but kept her mouth shut. Her eyes searched his own, trying to somehow use telepathy and let him know about everything. Of course it didn't work. Sasuke noticed that she was holding herself back from saying something.

"Sakura, I'm serious."

"I know." Sakura sighed. "I won't try to hint at anything."

"I have seen first-hand how much damage these seals can cause." Sasuke explained and Sakura knew he was talking about root. "You _better_ not try to do this again."

"I won't. You know a lot about seals?" Sakura questioned.

"More than most shinobi."

"What do you think about this seal?" Sakura turned and showed him the pattern. "Is there a way to remove it? Do you have a way of knowing how many rules it holds?"

"I can tell it's S-rank as its patterns are too complex. This was probably made by an expert, so this at least narrows down the list of people." Sasuke stared at the seal for another moment. "I can't be sure about how many rules apply to this seal because of its rank, but usually these kind of seals only apply to one rule."

Sakura felt a tiny spark of hope. "Only one rule?"

"I said I can't be sure about this one." Sasuke corrected.

"Damn." Sakura sighed and looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry for all of this."

Sasuke's eyes softened and he pulled her into an embrace. "Don't be. This is not your fault. It's me who's been pressuring you for a long time."

After a couple of seconds Sakura felt Sasuke's body tense up and she immediately knew what he was thinking. She pushed him back and looked into his face. Sasuke's jaw was set and his eyes were narrowed as he looked down with guilt.

"No, Sasuke-"

"It was all me, wasn't it?" he bit out and scoffed. "I was forcing you to tell me about something that was a big issue. I didn't trust you enough to wait until it was the right time."

"It's not like that."

"Is it not?" Sasuke bit his lip. "Then how come the attack on your parents happens right after? How come you suddenly can't talk about it anymore right after that event? Tell me it doesn't make me responsible for what happened."

"No. That doesn't make it your fault, Sasuke."

"But if I'd trusted you and waited until it was the right time your father would be alive!"

Sakura's breath caught in her throat. Yes, that was true… but she couldn't bring herself to blame him. It wasn't his fault. "It's understandable! I would've done the same, so don't-"

Sasuke steeled his eyes. "I'll tell you the same thing you said to me not long ago. Don't underestimate me."

"…" Sakura pressed her lips together.

"I can deal with the truth."

"The truth is that you were inevitably pulled into the mess my life is." Sakura closed her eyes softly. "I don't think there was much of a chance of your actions not causing anything. But that doesn't make you the culprit, Sasuke. It was unavoidable that you would somehow get involved."

"…" Sasuke remained quiet.

"If there is someone at fault here, it's me." Sakura explained. " _I_ was the one who got caught in this mess. _I_ was the one who decided to be stupid and reckless. _I_ was the one who was too scared to tell you the truth from the start!"

"Sakura…"

"I just didn't want to lose you." Sakura caught Sasuke's shoulders in a tight grip and her eyes were filled with emotion. "I…"

Sasuke firmly held Sakura's wrists to stop her. "Sakura. It won't do any good if you keep on testing the limits of the seal." His arms traveled to her bare back and he brought her into a hug.

"We shouldn't repeat what happened in your room." Sakura said. " _If_ we're seen, it will mean that I've learned that part of the rules don't apply."

"Hn." Sasuke was quiet for a moment and finally turned his head to softly speak into her hair. "Listen. I'm not going anywhere."

"I know." Sakura smiled and inhaled his scent.

If only she'd been sure about that fact earlier in her life. Had Sasuke been this centered before too? Had she not seen it with the certainty she did now? Had he changed after everything they'd been through?

Sakura could wish that she'd known the true face of Sasuke before, but she also had to admit that they were not the same anymore. Both of them had changed. The way they related to each other had changed. They had more trust in each other. They were more open with each other. That's why she knew he would be able to take the truth now. Would it have been the same three years ago? A year ago? Probably not. They had been through a lot.

She knew that they were stronger together now.

 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER WAS SO LATE!**

 **It's not due to writer's block – I actually have the whole story planned out until the end – but to lack of time (I won't waste your time explaining every damn thing on our list). I wish I was back in school, university or the time I wasn't a mother so I would have more time to write. A couple free hours during weekends would be great. I don't know why I complain and imagine impossible scenarios though, it's not like** _ **I**_ **will be travelling back in time to finish this fic in time LOL.**

 **I enjoyed writing this chapter and I do think that this has marked a progress in Sasuke and Sakura's relationship. I also think that the conversation Sakura and Naruto had with Sarutobi gives away some hints about what's going to happen in the future or the direction this fiction will take regarding village politics.**

 **Anyways, I'd love to hear what you all have to say about it!**

 **Thank you all for reading and reviewing and OF COURSE thanks to my beta reader!**


End file.
